A new study by MIT researchers looked at the potential for grid-edge resources to enhance the ability of the electric grid to respond to unforeseen power outages. Grid-edge resources are devices found close to consumers rather than located near central power plants, substations, or transmission lines. These include residential solar panels, storage batteries, electric vehicles, heat pumps, smart thermostats and smart water heaters.
These grid-edge devices can independently generate, store, or tune their consumption of power and increasingly, they are online internet-of-things devices. The MIT study outlined a blueprint for how such devices could reinforce the power grid through a local electricity market. Owners of grid-edge devices could subscribe to such a market and essentially loan out their device as part of a microgrid or local network as on-call energy resources.
Electric vehicles could provide power rather than consuming it when necessary. Storage batteries could do the same. Devices like smart dishwashers and thermostats would reduce their power demands when necessary.
In the event that the main power grid is compromised, an algorithm would determine which grid-edge devices were available and trustworthy and would either use them to pump power into the grid or reduce the power they are drawing from it in order to help mitigate the power failure.
The MIT researchers illustrated this grid resilience strategy through a number of grid attack scenarios including failures from cyber-attacks and natural disasters. Their analysis showed that various networks of grid-edge devices are capable of defeating various types of grid failures.
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Rooftop panels, EV chargers, and smart thermostats could chip in to boost power grid resilience
Photo, posted October 10, 2019, courtesy of Noya Fields via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio