Shaping what’s in store for the next-generation electrical grid

Abstract

They line Interstate-80 (I-80) in Iowa like immense and stately white birds, their blades rotating silently with an almost hypnotic grace. Besides offering a striking sight to anyone driving this stretch of highway, these and dozens of other wind turbines (Figure 1) installed throughout the state have made Iowa the U.S. leader in terms of the percentage of electricity generated from its abundant breezes, according to an American Wind Energy Association report released in April 2010. But even in Iowa, the wind can die down or be whipped into a frenzy that overpowers the electrical grid. Smoothing out this variability is a fundamental challenge facing more robust incorporation of wind and other renewable energy technologies into the electricity infrastructure. Zhenguo “Gary” Yang, laboratory fellow at the Pacifi c Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), began examining the issue of renewable integration four years ago as part of his work in developing technologies for the “smart grid”—the next-generation electricity delivery network that monitors and manages consumption at an individual consumer level. The crux of the problem, according to Yang, is the lack of an effective means of storing energy for future use to meet peak demands or compensate for disturbances in the power supply. “There are a number of potential technologies, but their costs need to be reduced to a level shaping What’s in store for the next-generation electrical Grid