Opportunities in power distribution network system optimization

Abstract

Smart Grid refers to the technology that uses computer-based remote control and automation on electricity delivery systems. In recent years, the industry is going through rather dramatic transformations thanks to the quite significant scale of shifts in energy policy, technology and consumer focus. The current situation is dire however. It was reported that the United States loses $150 billion per year due to power interruptions for example and the energy companies lag behind in adopting these new trends. Hence, there are urgent urges for them to act on a number of critical challenges and opportunities in order to build and manage the electric power systems in more efficient manners. In this presentation, we first provide a brief introduction of energy distribution system design and show how much energy distribution problem resembles that of EDA optimization. Then, we claim that there exist ample opportunities for the traditional VLSI design automation techniques to play a critical role in this relatively new domain of problems. As a proof of concept, a few real world power distribution problems are formulated and solved via advanced simulation, analysis and optimization techniques that are adapted from the EDA field. Finally the potential future research directions are discussed where further innovations are possible via EDA-like thinking process.