University of Denver Winter 2023

disruption. A trend toward decentralized infrastructure, Khodaei says, is accompanied by calls for decentralized control over the power grid. As households and businesses are beginning to generate their own electricity, “centralized frameworks for optimal grid operations are increasingly becoming more complex,” he says. Networks of distributed generation and transmission, referred to as microgrids, allow for redundancy, boosting overall reliability as disruptions at one or more generation sites would not completely cut the grid off from electricity. Furthermore, clusters of interconnected microgrids allow for even more resilient operation, as seen in the 8-megawatt community microgrid that KLab and its partners designed and implemented in Illinois’ Bronzeville neighborhood. Connected to the 11-megawatt Illinois Institute of Technology campus microgrid, the Bronzeville Community Microgrid can provide power to consumers in the event of a grid outage, a practice known as islanding, by utilizing battery storage, solar power and other energy sources. A flexible grid supports consumers’ ability to transition to sustainable and distributed generation, Khodaei says, adding that long-term planning to allow the grid to utilize more distributed resources and short-term planning to maintain and upgrade the reliability of existing grid resources are essential. Developing plans for a grid that will continue to expand and decentralize, however, grows more complicated with each additional component. Larger amounts of data need to be collected from the grid and analyzed—a task that Khodaei says will require a smarter grid. Back at KLab, Khodaei and team are developing technol ogies to ensure that smarter grid. Much of their work enlists quantum computing, which differs from traditional compu tation in its ability to process and analyze huge quantities of data. Its expanded computational capacity, Khodaei says, will allow for grid operators to account for the extreme complexity and scale of data from a decentralized grid, dramatically increasing the speed at which grid data can be processed, analyzed and used in decision making. Building the grid of tomorrow is an intensive process, Khodaei explains, but a resilient, smart grid will make sure that the lights stay on.

and severity. Meanwhile, hotter and drier conditions across much of the American West have heightened the spread of wildfires. All of which can leave businesses and homes in the dark. Building the grid of tomorrow, Khodaei explains, also requires a commitment to long- and short-term planning that accounts for emerging challenges and accommodates much-needed new technologies, especially those that can reduce the harmful impacts that electrical generation from fossil fuel has on the environment. Renewable resources such as wind and solar generation offer a low-emission option that can often be easily integrated into residential homes and businesses. But, Khodaei points out, many renew able sources of electricity have one major shortfall: They only provide power intermittently, classifying them as a nondispatchable form of generation. Khodaei also notes that nondispatchable renewable resources—solar panels, for example—are considered to be grid-following resources, meaning they will fail to generate electricity during a blackout or other grid failure. “Consider ing these two drawbacks, having a dispatchable resource that can be matched with a nondispatchable renewable resource is a must, be it a fossil-fuel resource, a fuel cell, a battery or any other technology,” he says. While existing technologies will remain as essential com ponents of the grid for years to come, newways of sustainably generating electricity continue to emerge. “The power grid relies on technological innovations, both evolutionary and revolutionary, to address the emerging and growing needs of the future,” Khodaei says. “The recent fusion breakthrough at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility offers the promise of sustainable and clean energy without many issues of nuclear fission power. This is a significant step to support the grid’s journey in becoming more resilient and sustainable.” Another essential component of a reliable grid, Khodaei says, are networks of distributed generation and control. While the existing grid primarily relies on large utility- scale generators as a means of supplying consumers with electricity, the installation of hundreds or thousands of smaller generators operating within a vast interconnected network will make the grid of the future more resistant to

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