The DERConnect headquarters include batteries that can store power produced by solar panels to be used later on the grid–enough to power several campus buildings. One room is dedicated to servers and computers capable of simulating power grids for entire cities and entire states. One room is dedicated to small Raspberry Pi computers that control individual devices on the UC San Diego campus’ microgrid, such as electric vehicle charging stations, printers, TVs, smart plugs and more. Another room houses devices that act like giant breaker boxes to turn all these assets on and off.
The glue that connects these facilities together is the DERConnect team, which is hard at work finalizing this hardware and software electric-grid-tech sandbox, which will be available for use by both on-site and remote researchers.
In fact, engineers from both industry and academia will be able to use DERConnect to ask a wide range of important questions that must be explored in real-world environments in order to create resilient, decarbonized grids of the future.
Questions like: During a heat wave when the grid is stressed, what kind of algorithms are best to balance the variable energy input from solar panels and the energy output requests from people charging electric cars?
Or: When energy demand spikes and yet the wind stops blowing unexpectedly, what kind of autonomous control systems can be deployed to keep the grid stable while also meeting all the needs of people served by the grid?
A preliminary study that used DERConnect’s ability to control on-campus devices showed that turning off devices that control air flow for rooms in a building outside of business hours could cut energy costs in half. Researchers estimate that the same savings can be achieved by turning off printers and TVs when not in use.
The creation of the DERConnect testbed addresses an outstanding national need for large-scale testing capabilities across universities, national labs, industry, utility companies, and Independent System Operators to validate future technologies for autonomous energy grids in real-word scenarios. In fact, a major obstacle to the adoption of many advanced technologies in the operations of real-world energy systems is the development of realistic test cases at relevant scales.
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