Architectures for Renewable Energy

Renewable energy and energy storage systems are two critical components for the emerging smart grid. Hence, it is important to have a fundamental understanding of the roles they play in the power systems. In this work, we try to conduct a quantitative study on the two components, and to design mechanisms and algorithms to optimally utilize the two resources. Specifically, one direction of our work is to quantify the gain of the renewable energy for the society, and to study how renewable energy can be incorporated into the current power system in a way that is both technically and economically efficient, under the current evolution trend of the power grid. Another direction is to evaluate the effects of energy storage on the function of the power grid, and to develop techniques that maximize its benefit.

Publications

1. L. Huang, J. Walrand and K. Ramchandran, “Optimal Demand Response with Energy Storage Management,” under submission.

2. L. Huang, J. Walrand and K. Ramchandran, “Optimal Demand Response with Energy Storage Management,” Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Smart Grid Communications (SmartGridComm), November 2012.

3. L. Huang, J. Walrand, and K. Ramchandran, ‘‘Optimal Power Procurement and Demand Response with Quality-of-Usage Guarantees,’’ Proceedings of IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting (PESGM), July 2012.

4. L. Huang, J. Walrand and K. Ramchandran, “Optimal Smart Grid Tariffs,” Information Theory and Applications Workshop (ITA) (Invited), San Diego, February 2012.