How a smart electric grid will power our future
Reimagining the United States power grid could save consumers $50 billion
a year

Date:
January 25, 2022
Source:
DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Summary:
A novel plan that offers partnership in keeping the United States
electric grid stable and reliable could be a win-win for consumers
and utility operators.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A novel plan that offers partnership in keeping the United States
electric grid stable and reliable could be a win-win for consumers and
utility operators.


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The largest ever simulation of its kind, modeled on the Texas power grid, concluded that consumers stand to save about 15 percent on their annual electric bill by partnering with utilities. In this system, consumers
would coordinate with their electric utility operator to dynamically
control big energy users, like heat pumps, water heaters and electric
vehicle charging stations.

This kind of flexible control over energy supply and use patterns is
called "transactive" because it relies on an agreement between consumers
and utilities. But a transactive energy system has never been deployed on
a large scale, and there are a lot of unknowns. That's why the Department
of Energy's Office of Electricity called upon the transactive energy
experts at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to study how such
a system might work in practice. The final multi-volume report was
released today.

Hayden Reeve, a PNNL transactive energy expert and technical advisor,
led a team of engineers, economists and programmers who designed and
executed the study.

"Because Texas's grid is quite representative of the nation's energy
system, it not only enabled the modeling and simulation of transactive
concepts but provided a reliable extrapolation of the results and
potential economic impacts to the broader United States grid and
customers," he said.

The simulation showed that if a transactive energy system were deployed
on the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid, peak loads
would be reduced by 9 to 15 percent. That savings could translate to
economic benefits of up to $5 billion annually in Texas alone, or up to
$50 billion annually if deployed across the entire continental United
States. The savings would equal the annual output of 180 coal-fired
power plants nationally.



========================================================================== Cutting the brown out By now, most people have experienced or witnessed
how weather extremes or natural disasters can wreak havoc on our current
power distribution systems.

That vulnerability is magnified by our reliance on a few centralized
power sources and a grid system that sometimes struggles to match supply
with demand.

Further, decarbonization of the electric grid will mean that more and
more power will come from different kinds of renewable energy sources,
like wind and solar. So, avoiding sudden spikes or dips -- power brown
or black outs - - becomes paramount.

The study findings indicate that a transactive energy system would
reduce daily load swings by 20 to 44 percent. And as more electric
vehicles come into use, the study, perhaps counterintuitively, showed
that smart vehicle charging stations provide even larger electric peak
load reductions because they offer additional flexibility in scheduled
charging times and power consumption.

"A smart grid can act as a shock absorber, balancing out mismatches
between supply and demand," Reeve said. "Through our study, we sought
to understand just how valuable effective coordination of the electric
grid could be to the nation, utilities and customers. Working with
commercial building owners and consumers to automatically adjust energy
usage represents a practical, win-win step towards the decarbonization of
the electrical, building and transportation sectors without compromising
the comfort and safety of participating homes and businesses." One key component to this strategy is adoption of smart appliances and load
controls. These dynamic resources can learn how to consume energy more efficiently, adjusting their use for brief periods to free up electricity
for other needs. For example, instead of charging an electric vehicle
in the early evening when energy demand and price is high, transactive
energy participants would rely on a smart load control to delay charging
their vehicle until demand is low and electricity cheaper. This approach
not only reduces stress on the existing grid infrastructure, it allows utilities more time to plan for next- generation energy storage and distribution infrastructure that is currently in development.



========================================================================== Transactive Energy: A central component In a transactive energy system,
the power grid, homes, commercial buildings, electric appliances and
charging stations are in constant contact. Smart devices receive a
forecast of energy prices at various times of day and develop a strategy
to meet consumer preferences while reducing cost and overall electricity demand. A local retail market in turn coordinates overall demand with
the larger wholesale market. All parties negotiate energy procurement and consumption levels, cost, timing and delivery in a dynamic pricing scheme.

While this concept may seem futuristic, it is quite possible to accomplish
and is already being deployed in a demonstration project in the city of Spokane's Eco-District. Here, the research team is developing and testing
a transactive energy coordination scheme and retail marketplace. The
approach also includes the use of PNNL-devised transactive software
agents .

An undertaking the size of Texas Texas's primary power grid (ERCOT)
provided the basis for PNNL's analysis.

Researchers created highly detailed models that represented the ERCOT
power network, including more than 100 power generation sources and 40 different utilities operating on the transmission system. The analysis
also included detailed representations of 60,000 homes and businesses,
as well as their energy-consuming appliances. Researchers used the models
to conduct multiple simulations under various renewable energy generation scenarios. Each simulation demonstrated how the energy system would react
to the addition of differing amounts of intermittent power sources,
such as wind and solar. The research team also developed a detailed
economic model to understand the yearly cost impacts for operators and customers. Finally, they looked at upfront costs associated with labor
and software expenses, as well as the costs for buying and installing
smart devices in homes and businesses.

Another important goal of the study included evaluating the impact
of a new kind of mediator in the grid economy. This entity, called a distribution system operator, would be required to manage a grid that
has multiple energy sources owned and operated by distinct entities,
all contributing energy to the grid at different times and amounts. In addition, this distribution system operator would negotiate the
transactions with customers that allow flexible load control. The goal
would be to support efficient and reliable grid operation.

The study confirmed the value of establishing entities, such as a
distribution system operator, to manage transactive energy.

Overall, the PNNL research showed clear benefits of reimagining how the electric grid could accommodate a future where clean renewable energy
is a much bigger contributor and more of our transportation needs depend
on ready access to electricity.

"These findings make a strong case for investment in scaled deployments
of transactive energy systems," said Christopher Irwin, a program
manager for the Office of Electricity, Department of Energy, in its
Smart Grid standards and interoperability efforts. "As the nation moves
towards a zero-carbon future, a more adaptable energy system could help accelerate the broader deployment of electric vehicles, solar energy
and the conversion of homes and buildings to clean electricity sources."
In addition to Reeve, PNNL researchers Steve Widergren, Rob Pratt, Bishnu Bhattarai, Sarmad Hanif, Sadie Bender, Trevor Hardy, Mitch Pelton,
Ankit Singhal, Fernando Bereta dos Reis, Ahmad Tbaileh, Matt Oster,
Tianzhixi Yin, Laurentiu Marinovici and Sarah Barrows all contributed
to the research and writing the final reports. The study was supported
by the Department of Energy's Office of Electricity.

Link to "Distribution System Operation with Transactive (DSO+T) Study"
special promotion Explore the latest scientific research on sleep and
dreams in this free online course from New Scientist -- Sign_up_now_>>> ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
DOE/Pacific_Northwest_National_Laboratory. Original written by Karyn
Hede. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


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Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220125151019.htm

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