We are happy to announce that Beer Witteveen successfully defended his Masters’s Thesis. Beer worked on the analysis of storage options for DC Microgrids in developing countries. He especially focused on micro hydro storage for the mountainous villages in Ethiopia.
Progress Update on the Rural Electrification Project
We have been working on our rural electrification project for more than a year and a half now. During this time, we have been researching, developing and building prototypes of our own USB-C based solar home system. With this off-grid system we intend to provide a solution to villages that do not have a grid connection. Our ultimate goal is to interconnect households to create DC microgrids and provide reliable access to electricity for all.
We planned to carry out our first field test in Ethiopia this month. Unfortunately, due to the global impact of the coronavirus pandemic, we had to postpone this field test. However, we at DC Opportunities still feel very enthusiastic to keep working on improving our prototypes.
In spite of the aforementioned challenges we were able to book some progress. Last week we have received 50 of our PCBs to assemble power-banks and in the coming weeks we expect to receive more components such as solar charging stations and power-hubs. We would like to take a moment and thank all the parties who are helping us throughout this journey including TU Delft | Global Initiative, Students4Sustainability, 3E Royal, Mekelle Institute of Technology & Victron Energy.
Master’s Thesis Defense of Faik Nizam
We are happy to announce that today Faik Nizam successfully defended his MSc thesis on “Energy Management in USB-C Based Modular Solar Home Systems” . During the past year and a half, Faik has been working within the rural electrification project focusing on implementing power delivery communication to perform the energy management of our Solar Home System. Congratulations Faik!
Master’s Thesis Defense of Pedro Parreira
Last week Pedro Parreira graduated from the MSc in Electrical Engineering at TU Delft. During his thesis, he has been working on “Distributed optimal power flow for low voltage DC grids” at DC Opportunities. For the past months, Pedro developed an optimization algorithm for low-voltage DC grids which eliminates the need of a central controller. By utilizing physiscal measurements of the grid, it is now possible to control local voltage and power with the goal of minimizing cost.
Master’s Thesis Defense of Lukas Irazusta Gorostidi
Today, Lukas Irazusta Gorostidi successfully defended his Master’s Thesis titled “Power Electronics in Modular Solar Home Systems” at Delft University of Technology. During the last year, he has been developing the hardware for our modular solar home system. Several prototypes were realized and Lukas demonstrated that today to the audience in his well-attended public presentation. We are very happy that Lukas will stay with us after his graduation to continue this development!
DC Event at Vakbeurs Energie
DC. Een hype of een dingetje?
Datum: 08-10-2019
Tijd: 13:30 – 16:30
Sprekers/Partners: Henry Lootens, Bestuurder Stichting Gelijkspanning Nederland | Maarten de Vries, Programmamanager TKI Urban Energy | Diego Zuidervliet, R&D Engineer ATAG Benelux | Laurens Mackay, Oprichter DC Opportunities R&D | Henri Overbeek, Technisch specialist Venema Technisch Bedrijf
Meer energie distribueren met gelijkspanning
https://www.vakbeursenergie.nl/nl/seminar-reader/dc-een-hype-of-een-dingetje-NRGY2019-ENE-Q102/
In Nederland ligt al heel veel koper in de grond. Met gelijkspanning kunnen we hier veel beter gebruik van maken dan nu met AC. Laurens legt aan de hand van een onderzoek in Zoetermeer uit dat 5 keer meer energie over dezelfde kabel echt kan.
Vragen die beantwoord worden:
Klopt het dat er met gelijkspanning 5x zoveel energie over dezelfde kabel kan?
De LED straatverlichting in mijn gemeente werkt toch al op gelijkspanning?
Wat kun je nog meer met de stroomkabels die lantaarnpalen van energie voorzien?
Keynote at European DC Forum 2019
On the 4th of April 2019 the European DC Forum took place in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. DC Opportunities R&D was present to discuss with participants the future of DC grids. Dr. Laurens Mackay gave a keynote in the morning.
IEEE Empower a Billion Lives Competition
Early this year, DC Opportunities R&D participated in the 2nd stage regional round of the IEEE “Empower a Billion Lives” competition held in Seville, Spain. This global competition seeks scalable solutions to tackle energy poverty.
Dr. Laurens Mackay and Lukas Irazusta pitched the rural electrification concept that DC Opportunities R&D is currently working on. A field test is scheduled later this year in Ethiopia.
It was a great opportunity to meet people working in this field, and share ideas and points of view.
Dr. Laurens Mackay Speaking at Delft University of Technology PowerWeb
On Tuesday 13th of November 2018 Laurens Mackay of DC Opportunities was invited to talk about life after PhD at the PowerWeb event.
Protection Workshop at TU Eindhoven
On 30th of October 2018 Dr. Laurens Mackay of DC Opportunities R&D gave a presentation about Solid State Protection in low voltage DC grids at TU Eindhoven.
The event was organized by Stichting Gelijkspanning Nederland as a follow up on the well-attended protection session at the DC Congress 2018 in June.