Transforum Vol. 10, No. 2
Argonne Charges Ahead with Smart Grid Research

Using Argonne’s interactive demonstration, engineer Ted Bohn demonstrates how the Smart Grid can play a role in lessening our country’s dependence on foreign oil. The demo shows the possible relationships between energy supplies, operators and utilities, PHEVs and consumers.

President Barack Obama has called for one million plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) to hit the road by 2015. Subsidies encouraging both PHEVs and electric vehicles (EVs) support this goal. If the combined demand for these vehicles skyrockets, utilities’ power networks could be strained to the limit, requiring upgrades.

That is why the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is analyzing how the power grid can be redesigned to better meet America’s energy needs. A multidisciplinary mix of scientists and engineers from Argonne National Laboratory is working to help develop a “smart grid” that will not only adapt in realtime to handle larger electricity loads, but also operate more efficiently and reliably than the existing grid.

The smart grid will move our country’s electrical grid into the digital age. By integrating real-time, two-way communication technologies into the power grid, the nation will have a more robust and efficient system that empowers consumers to “talk” to the grid to choose where their electricity comes from and when they want it delivered.

“The smart grid doesn’t propose to revolutionize the way we do power,” said Ted Bohn, an electrical engineer at Argonne’s Center for Transportation Research. “It’s just about doing the same things more efficiently—smarter.”

Plugging Away with Electrified Vehicles

Argonne transportation engineers are working to develop suitable standards for PHEVs and EVs, enabling cost-effective and smart interaction with the grid. For example, Bohn sits on the international committee working to develop the Society of Automotive Engineers’ new connection standard called J-1772. The group is defining this standard, so manufacturers can build compatible connectors and vehicle sockets that will support both charging and two-way communication.

Transportation researchers are also validating some of the communications technologies that are being proposed to communicate between the vehicle’s smart charger and the electrical infrastructure smart meters.

In December 2009, Bohn and Keith Hardy represented Argonne at the Bright Green Expo in Copenhagen, Denmark. They were on hand to discuss the efforts of DOE and Argonne to help facilitate the interaction of PHEVs and EVs with an updated smart grid.

To help visitors grasp the big picture, Bohn and Hardy brought along an interactive demonstration created by Argonne that illustrates the possible relationships between the nation’s energy supplies, electric power grid operators and utilities, vehicles and consumers.

Supply and Demand

Les Poch and Matt Mahalik of Argonne’s Center for Energy, Environmental, and Economic Systems Analysis (CEEESA) are concerned with the demand on the existing power grid as more and more electric vehicles hit the road. Poch and Mahalik model the generation capacity needs and the potential strain on the transmission grid if millions of new PHEVs and EVs were to plug in every night.

“Depending on what Americans do with their new cars, electricity suppliers could be overwhelmed—or they could stand to gain a lot,” Poch said.

Electricity suppliers closely monitor regional demand. To prevent shortages, they must predict how much electricity will be needed at any given time.

Electric vehicles stand poised to throw off the now stable pattern. No one knows how quickly electric cars will catch on, in what areas they’ll be most popular, or when everyone will choose to plug in their cars.

Today’s electricity demand follows well-defined cycles. Demand increases during the daytime when commuters head to work, as homes and offices turn up the air conditioning and factories power up the machinery, and falls sharply during nighttime.

“The way we build power plants now is to make sure we have enough to meet the highest demand possible—the maximum amount of power on the afternoon of the hottest day of the year,” said Vladimir Koritarov, deputy director of CEEESA. “Then they add some more for backup in an emergency. The rest of the year we won’t need nearly so much power, but we have to be prepared for that one day.”

For this reason, utilities must maintain a large reserve capacity that is unused for the majority of the year. Koritarov thinks that with the right approach, the smart grid could work out to everyone’s advantage.

By using incentives to smooth out demand for electricity between day and night, a utility can produce power more economically. Also, smart charging of electric and hybrid vehicles during the off-peak periods can significantly help with that goal by filling up “demand valleys.”

Grid Energy Storage

A significant stumbling block for power distribution is the lack of technology to store power for extended periods. Stored energy from variable resources, such as solar and wind, could be fed back into the grid at peak times to reduce the strain on the grid and conventional power plants.

A team of Argonne materials scientists, chemists and engineers—already renowned for their successes in the field of advanced battery development for vehicles—is working to develop large-scale energy storage technologies that will capture energy whenever it’s available and store it for use at a later time.

“The smart grid isn’t a theoretical concept,” said Bohn. “It’s happening now.”

Across the country, aspects of the smart grid are being tested in homes and neighborhoods. As America moves forward, science and Argonne work to improve the future—for households, businesses and utilities alike.

Funding for this research effort was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Fuel Cell Technologies Program under Fred Joseck and Vehicle Technologies Program under Patrick Davis.

July 2010