Modeling and Analysis: The future of smart grid efficiency

Modeling and analysis of demand response programs and energy resources is a key next step in smart grid integration, according to an IEEE panel of energy and utility professionals.

During a discussion at the IEEE Innovation Smart Grid (ISG) conference in Washington, DC, panelists highlighted the importance of modeling in understanding smart grid efficiency and alleviating peak demand on power distribution systems.

"Typically, utilities aren't necessarily monitoring or [gaining] access to all these distributed systems," said Tom King, a power grid expert with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). "When you start to look at the visibility, there's a lot of work that's going into modeling and analysis, both at the fundamental level as well as the applied level."

ORNL is working with the U.S. Department of Energy to develop mathematical modeling and analysis tools to accelerate performance and grid resilience, as well as to predict how the smart grid may respond to certain events. King said the goal is to create a "look-ahead" simulator to aid in creating more efficient demand response programs and understanding where the grid is the most strained.

Also speaking on the panel was Mustafa Biviji of consulting firm E2RG, who demonstrated new ways of visualizing and analyzing the effectiveness of demand response programs. Utilities can provide data to E2RG to test the new models.

"We believe that once the customer behavior is captured...this can be used to forecast the expected load shift for various rate structures," Biviji said.

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