Darnell Defines the Next Decade – Software-Defined Power and Dispersed Energy Sources

Big data, smart grids, microgrids, dispersed energy resources (DER), improvements in sensor technologies and the continuing drive for efficiency optimization are several of the factors that will drive the emergence of MW-scale software-defined power architectures (SDPAs). Managing DER locally and dynamically can make grid elements "plug and play" just like today's end-use consumer devices. SDPAs are expected to enable use of inexpensive commodity hardware, driving down the costs of the smart grid and microgrids in the same way software-defined networks are reducing the cost of computing.

The electric grid has to balance power supply and demand nearly in real-time, requiring power plants to be adjusted on a second-by-second basis. This instantaneous balance is made significantly more complex by distributed energy resources (DER) including renewable energy such as wind and solar as well as energy storage systems, which add more uncertainty and variability.

A new research project is proposing a unique solution to this growing problem: employing the millions of distributed energy resources that already exist, such as solar panels on rooftops and heating and cooling systems in buildings. The new approach uses these resources to balance the power grid, increase reliability and decrease carbon emissions. This incentive-based coordination and control system for distributed energy resources is also expected to make the grid more efficient, sustainable and resilient.

The $4 million project was one of 12 new projects announced by DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E. The Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is leading the project.

"Our new approach to balancing the power grid offers a great deal of flexibility and the potential to increase system reliability," said PNNL engineer Karan Kalsi, who is leading the project. "It would give the future power grid the ability to quickly take on and shed power, which would also enable us to incorporate more intermittent renewable energy into the nation's power mix."

Last week, Atom Power announced it has developed a new circuit breaker technology that utilizes digitally-controlled solid-state components built into a product call the Atom Switch. The Atom Switch is a circuit breaker that provides all of the functionality of a traditional circuit breaker but is software driven, allowing operators to dynamically change characteristics.

"Using the Atom OS software platform, we could have one Atom Switch be a 20-amp circuit breaker one day, then simply program it to be an 80-amp circuit breaker on another day, depending upon need and circumstance," explains Ryan Kennedy, CEO of Atom Power, LLC.

In addition to being able to manipulate the ampacity, the Atom Switch is fast, operating over 100 times faster than mechanical circuit breakers, mitigating short circuit and arc flash hazards. Atom Power has created an end-to-end product, both with the hardware and tightly integrated software. "For the first time in history, we will allow full digital control of an electrical infrastructure all while making it safer and easier," says Kennedy.

Looking toward utility-scale SDPAs, 1Energy Systems announced their second software offering: the Distributed Energy Resource Optimizerâ„¢. The 1E-DEROâ„¢ is a software platform that runs in a utility's control center and maximizes the economics of energy storage fleets by matching those assets to the most valuable mix of opportunities on a day-ahead, hour-ahead and real-time basis. The product makes it simpler for utilities to nimbly respond to economic opportunities for their storage resources while protecting and supporting local grid priorities.

"1E-DEROâ„¢ is a major milestone toward our company mission of providing control system software and power system engineering services to help utilities integrate distributed energy resources into the grid," said David Kaplan, Founder and CEO of 1Energy Systems. "With our 1Energy Intelligent Controllerâ„¢ and now 1E-DEROâ„¢, we have the most complete software platform available for the control and economic optimization of energy storage fleets at utility scale."

The Grid Integration Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) has been awarded a grant for a "Modular, Secure, and Replicable Microgrid Control System for Generation and Storage Management at Military Installations" at Fort Hunter Liggett by the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP), Department of Defense (DoD). The project has a total value of $13 million: $9 million provided by the site Fort Hunter Liggett in terms of equipment, and $4 million for the LBNL microgrid team to deploy a fully functional grid-interactive microgrid with seamless islanding capabilities.

The microgrid controller will interact with the utility to react to dynamic prices, demand response signals, over-generation limitations, and the like. The multi-layered distributed microgrid controller architecture is being shared with the Working Group for the IEEE 2030.7 Standard for Specification of Microgrid Controllers.

In the microgrid concept design for Fort Hunter Liggett, the physical structure of the microgrid is modular. The design includes several substations that are connected to each other and to the utility through a MV cable ring. Each substation module includes PV generation, battery storage, and diesel backup generation to supply the building loads connected to it. This modular structure increases reliability and reduces maintenance costs for Fort Hunter Liggett. This project will advance microgrid applications to a new level of field-proven functionality and interaction with utilities and markets.

This future is already beginning to emerge. Last November, Sonnenbatterie announced the sonnenCommunity; members can generate their own power, store it and share surpluses online with friends or each other. The sonnenCommunity completely replaces traditional power companies and will soon be available to every household in Germany. sonnenCommunity is the first community of producers, consumers and storage operators who can supply each other with self-generated electricity.

sonnenCommunity members are independent of the established electricity providers. Members have significantly lower energy costs thanks to the efficiently controlled, decentralized self-supply of electricity. sonnenCommunity members gain affordable access to intelligent storage technology as well as to free surplus electricity. The sonnenCommunity actively prevents costly grid expansion through direct marketing of renewable energy even in small residential systems.

Every household in Germany can join the sonnenCommunity, a community that connects all energy producers and consumers, allowing them to supply one another with renewable energy and making a traditional power company unnecessary. "With the sonnenCommunity, we offer all households that want to determine their own energy future access to affordable, clean electricity for the first time," said Christoph Ostermann, CEO of Sonnenbatterie at the time of the announcement.

Off road trials of the technology needed to power electric and hybrid vehicles on England's major roads were announced last August. The trials are the first of their kind and will test how the technology would work safely and effectively on the country's motorways and major A roads, allowing drivers of ultra-low emission vehicles to travel long distances without needing to stop and charge the car's battery. The trials follow the completion of the feasibility study commissioned by Highways England into 'dynamic wireless power transfer' technologies.

These trials will test one aspect of the EU's FastInCharge project. The concept of FastInCharge is to create a highly-performing inductive solution which will enable a 40kW power transfer to the vehicles in two charging operational situations: one stationary and one on-route. The inductive technology developed will be integrated into: three different electric cars of different types (secondary charging block) and four charging stations, one stationary and three on-route (primary charging block). The full functional chain will be carefully scrutinized in order to ensure an optimal, safe and sustainable solution: battery charging, EV performance and safety, EV range, communication EV/Station, connection station to the grid, grid management and energy supply, intelligent coordinated systems.

And in September, Fraunhofer announced a wireless charging system will allow electric cars not only to charge their batteries, but also to feed energy back into the power grid, helping to stabilize it. The cost-effective charging system achieves high levels of efficiency across the whole power range, from 400 Watts to 3.6 kiloWatts, while the car and the charging coil can be up to 20 centimeters apart. Managing such a system in real-time will demand the development of SDPA technology.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology IWES in Kassel have come up with a more cost-effective design for such inductive charging systems. "We deliberately use standard components that are already available on the mass market," explained Marco Jung, deputy head of the converter technology department at Fraunhofer IWES.

Supporting these global activities, IEEE introduced the first of its kind IEEE Smart Grid Domains and Sub-domains framework, which is featured in the newly released IEEE Smart Grid Newsletter Compendium, "Smart Grid: The Next Decade." The IEEE Smart Grid Domains and Sub-domains were created by IEEE Smart Grid experts and built upon the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Conceptual Model. This first of its kind framework defines what smart grid is and organizes content that spans across numerous disciplines and aspects of smart grid in a coherent and disciplined way. The IEEE Smart Grid Domains and Sub-domains allow smart grid contributions and activities to be combined into specific areas for better understanding of the activities and their correlations.

"Introducing these IEEE Smart Grid Domains and Sub-domains provides a new and fresh way of looking at all things smart grid. It's a categorization that has never existed anywhere in the world," said Dr. Ebrahim Vaahedi, Chair of the IEEE Smart Grid Publications Committee and Senior Director at Open Access Technology International Inc.

Big data, smart grids, microgrids, dispersed energy resources (DER), and the continuing drive for efficiency optimization are several of the factors that will drive the emergence of MW-scale software-defined power architectures (SDPAs). Managing DER locally and dynamically can make grid elements "plug and play" just like today’s end-use consumer devices. SDPAs are expected to enable use of inexpensive commodity hardware, driving down the costs of the smart grid and microgrids in the same way software-defined networks are reducing the cost of computing.