By The Texas A&M University System National Laboratories Office
Researchers from Texas A&M University’s Wm Michael Barnes ‘64 Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and Theoretical Division (T-5) of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) are finding new ways to predict and operate power grids to improve performance and energy transmission. This collaboration is made possible by The Texas A&M University System National Laboratories Office and LANL.
Natarajan Gautam, Ph.D. from Texas A&M and Harsha Nagarajan, Ph.D. from LANL are working to improve power grids in light of the challenges posed by renewable energy, volatility in energy demands and Gautam graphfluctuating costs across the energy market.
The use of renewable energy sources is increasing, with wind and solar energy accounting for almost 50% of global generation capacity in 2017. Additionally, the costs of battery storage prices are decreasing, making it easier to store renewable energy. This combination of maturing renewable energy technology and more affordable battery storage devices could lead to more communities creating their own energy rather than relying completely on borrowing power from the main transmission grid. These conditions work together to make it difficult to predict the demand, supply and price of energy needed from the transmission grid.
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