What is a micro-grid?

I would just like to briefly explain about a micro-grid before going in more detail about the full “plan”.

 It is a locally sourced electricity “system” which is capable of operating independently or along with the main (traditional) grid. This is similar to the vision of  local electricity generation by Thomas Edison. However this has the added benefit that the local DC grid is able to operate either in parallel with the surrounding AC grid or in isolation from it.

This sort of DC micro-grids also have much smaller footprints, avoid most transmissions and distribution losses.

For this project, we will only be looking to generate electricity using renewable sources. At this stage, we are hoping to source from solar, wind and hydro power. This will all be done in small scale.

showing overall system in a renewable grid [credit: www.pitt.edu]

The idea about the micro-grid is that is can be used as either a backup to the main grid or it can also be used as a sole provider of the electricity in remote areas disconnected from the main grid.

I have also posted the following video from Texas university that explains it more visibly.