Researchers at NC State have developed a method for optimizing energy in electrical grids without using a control center, which captures renewable energy and cuts down utility prices.
The technology is called Cooperative Distributed Energy Scheduling (CoDES) and will use energy gathered from roof top solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicle batteries.
The devices will be able to capture the energy and release it when the demand or utility price is high. Traditionally, this process is done at the control center, but with CoDES, energy will be optimized without a control center, and the energy sources and device will be able to coordinate more efficiently.
Electrical and computer engineering professor Mo-Yuen Chow and Ph.D. candidate Navid Rahbari Asr have been working on the project since 2008 and have run simulations to prove the effectiveness of the method and have created a working prototype in their lab.
With control centers, consumers have to sacrifice their privacy, Asr said. The generation and consumption information has to be sent to the remote control center.
“CoDES respects the privacy of the owners of these distributed units because nobody needs to reveal their generation or consumption information to other parties,” Chow said.
Austin Tucker, a sophomore double majoring in electrical and computer engineering, is excited for what this breakthrough brings for the electricity sectors and NC State.
“I believe that this new decentralized approach is a great innovation for our nation’s power grids and can help increase the accuracy and efficiency of power distribution across the grid by eliminating a large portion of the margin of error from calculations made by the central control center,” Tucker said.
The devices are scalable and can be applied to systems ranging from small buildings to large communities in a city, according to Chow.
However, it won’t be another two to five years for the technology to go from the research stage to the commercialization stage. They are currently demonstrating their research at the Future Renewable Energy Delivery and Management Center.
Both researchers believe CoDES will be a great opportunity for NC State and Raleigh.
“CoDES can be a big usage to NC State and Raleigh because many people are thinking about how to incorporate renewable energy into their daily lives,” Asr said. “This is a great opportunity to utilize renewable energy and storage together, lower our electricity bill and increase the reliability of power networks.
Researchers have been talking to interested industry parties for technology transfers.
“As the energy sector keeps advancing, CoDES will have a lot of opportunities to provide features that match those advancements,” Asr said. “With the trend toward distributed energy resources, we anticipate to see many households having their own distributed generators.”