REMHART, The Renewable Energy Microgrid Hub for Applied Research and Training, was established through the Commonwealth Government's funding through the Strategic University Reform Fund (SURF). REMHART sits under the Energy and Resources Institute (ERI) of Charles Darwin University.
REMHART is an industry-focused innovation hub for renewable energy systems. The hub will focus on enabling affordable, reliable and green power systems through research collaborations with industry to develop innovative approaches to address challenges in the design, deployment and operation of renewable energy systems. Central to this hub is the Microgrid facility, located at East Arm in Darwin, underpinning the industry-university collaborations.
We are particularly interested in studies aimed at developing projects of commercial potential in partnership with industry. In addition, this hub will produce training packages to build a workforce ready to take advantage of the proliferation of renewable energy systems in the Northern Territory (NT).
The Grid Testing Facility is a unique set-up, essentially a hardware simulator that can be used for various purposes. These include testing the performance of controllers and control systems, inverters, battery technologies and integration of hardware from different vendors. The simulator can be configured to mimic real microgrids by configuring the microgrid simulator as a scaled-down version of the whole system. Since the simulator incorporates commercial equipment, it provides a platform that enables accurate evaluation of how the real microgrid that is being simulated will perform, thus de-risking the installation and commissioning of the microgrid and providing greater confidence in the commissioning process. The simulator allows for safely studying how the microgrid hardware and software perform under different conditions (e.g. PV, wind) and load profiles for any location as well as contingency events without having to wait for such events to happen, as these profiles and events can be induced in the facility. This has the advantage of not waiting passively for an event or a load/supply profile to occur.
3D tour of the Grid Testing Facility
Training Program
We offer specialised training programs that cater to the industry requirements with an emphasis on enhancing the skillsets of Engineers.
Read moreKey Research Areas
- Performance evaluation of battery, electrolyser, and fuel cell technologies.
- Modelling and analysis of hybrid power systems
- Development and testing of control strategies and algorithms for hybrid power systems.
- Integrating solar PV, hydrogen electrolyser and fuel cells into the grid.
- Techno-economic analysis of renewable power systems
- Identifying, analysing, evaluating, and addressing the cyber security threats related to microgrids.
- Penetration Testing Service - To identify and verify the vulnerabilities affecting power systems.
- IoT sensors for remote monitoring and predictive maintenance of power systems
