I hope you have been enjoying the on-going Global Sustainability series. This post is not in that series but instead is a weekend treat for the avid followers of this blog. Have no fear, the rest of the series is scheduled to post next week.
I was sitting in the lobby of an environmental non-profit the other week, and I happened to pick up a copy of the Spring 2012 issue of the MIT Energy Initiative's Energy Futures magazine in which I found an article about a new smart grid technology called ColorPower, which may be of particular interest for proponents of renewable energy, energy storage, and electric vehicles. The article, Tomorrow's power grid: Adjusting demand to meet supply (starting on page 11 of the magazine, page 13 of the pdf version), describes a 'smart grid' demand-side management technology that decentralizes the decision making process, giving the appliance users greater control over their electricity use and more privacy with regard to their habits.
I encourage you to read the article for yourself before proceeding any further. Here is the link again, in case you missed it: http://web.mit.edu/mitei/news/energy-futures/Energy_Futures_Spring_2012.pdfI am particularly excited about this ColorPower technology, which is now being developed by Zome Energy Networks. As the article mentions, it could revolutionize the ability of homeowners to participate in their home energy use - especially with larger appliances. However, I think that it could also be (1) a key mechanism for electric vehicle charging and (2) a supplement and/or tie-in to energy storage devices.
In my dissertation (see the Background section), I specifically sought to avoid discussing energy storage devices that only worked in one direction (e.g. could only use electricity but not send electricity back to the grid), because on the electricity grid demand can be both too high and too low compared to supply. This is especially the case on a utility grid that includes a high percentage of renewable energy sources (such as solar photovoltaic and wind turbine generators). Thus, I was concerned that if I based the premise of my dissertation only on a technology that only had the ability to absorb extra energy when demand was lower than supply, I would be missing half of the equation.
During instances in which the supply is unable to keep up with the demand, the ColorPower systems could be used as envisioned by the system designer and described in the article - i.e. temporarily turning off or cycling down appliances based on the user preferences. In a mathematical sense, reducing demand is similar to sending more electricity onto the grid (the first half of the equation). However, I now believe that with the use of ColorPower or a similar technology much (but not all) of the role of bi-directional energy storage devices could be met with demand response, especially if it is used in combination with electric vehicles and thermal power systems.
If the ColorPower systems included a bi-directional switch, owners could not only elect to use less energy when demand is too high but could also request to use more energy when demand is too low. This may not seem practical when only considering traditional appliances. Instead let's consider non-traditional appliances such as electric vehicles and thermal mass systems (e.g. SmartBricks from Vcharge). In this case, appliance owners could prioritize their energy use so that it jumps (e.g. electric vehicles charge quicker than normal) whenever overall demand is too low and supply is too high .
As a result, if each building had some appliances set up to shutdown when demand is too high and other appliances set up to ramp-up use when demand is too low, each building could function in essentially the same role that energy storage devices filled in my dissertation. This sort of bi-directional demand response could also avoid some of the trouble with V2G systems that require EV batteries to be less than fully charged in order to function.
Well, that is all for now, I hope that I have provide you with enough links to keep you busy for the weekend.
Cheers,
Sean
No comments:
Post a Comment