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Chinese Researchers Develop Algorithms For Smart Energy Grid


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A simple diagram of the Smart Grid.

Researchers at Northeastern University in China have proposed a way to distribute energy similarly to the way the Internet functions.

Credit: Georgia Tech News

Scientists at Northeastern University in China have proposed a way to distribute energy similarly to how the Internet operates.

Huaguang Zhang, director of Northeastern's Electrical Automation Institute, and colleagues have determined how to optimize power exchange between the main electrical grid and multiple microgrids using algorithms.

Decentralized generators within a system would agree that one of them will represent their ideal state. Using consensus-based algorithms, the leader would communicate with the main grid and collect the power costs of each generator to set the price of electricity within the network, and the next algorithm would allow for precise calculation by each generator based on their local needs compared to the global supply and demand by collecting information from their networked microgrids. The generators would use this information to request more energy, or sell surplus energy to the main grid to be sent to a different generator.

The researchers simulated their proposed management method and report the algorithms proved effective.

Zhang says the method "is more cost-effective, reliable, and robust compared to the centralized approaches."

From Phys.org
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Abstracts Copyright © 2016 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA


 

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