| PNNL envisions power grid of the future The Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory experts are supporting DOE and other US power industry stakeholders to provide insight into the factors that play a role in large-scale outages such as those that occurred on the East Coast on August 14th, and how susceptibility to such events can be minimised with new technology and tighter cooperation. PNNL engineers are devising new technologies that could be fitted into appliances to constantly monitor the frequency of the power grid and turn off or on to help alleviate fluctuations on the grid that can lead to major outages. "We're using the grid in ways that it wasn't designed for, and the results can be cascading outages that cripple entire regions," said Jeff Dagle, PNNL chief electrical engineer and grid reliability expert, echoing an opinion widely shared among utility engineers. "The grid architecture must be changed to support the new demands that are being placed upon it, making it more resilient to failure or attack and flexible enough to evolve as better technological solutions emerge. "One option we are considering is integrating advanced technology into the system - from the consumer level in a person's home to the generators and substations," he said. "Also, development of new energy sources such as fuel cells will further reduce demands on the grid. Tighter cooperation between private and public organisations must be the foundation for either of these efforts." THE GRID OF THE FUTURE "Called GridWise, our vision draws upon new technologies enabling collaboration among generators, the grid and customer loads to collectively increase the stability and cost-effectiveness of the power system beyond what is possible today," said Rob Pratt, program manager of PNNL's initiative. "We foresee solutions that involve adapting and influencing information, and control technology approaches to deliver a reliable energy infrastructure that's in step with the information revolution in the nation's economy in general. Major corporations like IBM, Alstom, PJM Interconnect and Sempra have created an alliance to jointly define this vision for the smart grid of the future with DOE's Office of Electric Transmission and Distribution." As part of GridWise, PNNL engineers are designing smart chips that would be fitted onto household appliances and would continually monitor fluctuations in the power grid. When the grid is under high periods of stress, a grid-friendly appliance would identify these fluctuations and, within milliseconds, automatically shut down for a short period of time to give the grid operators time to stabilise the system. It could even turn on momentarily to absorb excess power from fluctuations during a crisis. "These brief interruptions of 5 or 10 minutes wouldn't be noticeable to the consumer but, if millions of hot water heaters, refrigerators and air conditioners shut down, the cumulative effect could reduce demand enough to stabilise the grid and give operators time to get it back under control," Pratt said. "These grid-friendly appliances could respond nearly instantly and much more quickly than a utility can start up additional generators or re-route power to compensate for disruptions in the system. "By relieving stress on the grid, the chances of a problem spinning out of control and cascading into a major blackout would be greatly reduced. These same appliances could stagger their return to service after an outage, easing the restoration of power." PNNL is establishing a mock household environment where grid-friendly appliances would be tested for their effectiveness in monitoring for grid fluctuations, responsiveness to such fluctuations, and how they could have alleviated past power outages using information from those events. The test bed is expected to be fully operational this fall. WIDE-AREA MEASUREMENT SYSTEM "Over the past couple of years, we've been discussing implementation of WAMS on the East Coast with several utilities," Dagle said. "The goal is to incorporate information technologies to better predict events, match power need and demands, and consider real-time needs in hopes of improving management of the grid. "Beyond technology incorporated into the grid, innovations in the area of fuel cells could also serve as new energy resources for consumers and the grid," he said.
•Date:
22nd August 2003 • Region: N.America •Type:
Article •Topic: BC
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