How to Properly Use Distributed Energy Resources for Resilience
“How should we use distributed energy resources to build resilience?”
Distributed energy resources such as solar and wind energy are shaping up to be the next dominant paradigm in energy. And one of their most touted benefits is the increased resilience that they will bring. However, research has shown that this will only occur if they are deployed in a careful manner. This means that they will need to be planned to provide backup to vulnerable transmission lines, relieve congestion, and be placed under control of grid operators. This is How to Use Distributed Energy Resources for Resilience.
How Wave Energy Can Help Island Nations
“Why is wave energy really helpful for island nations?”
Island nations are strapped when it comes to energy resources. Their small land area limits the potential for distributed energy resources and centralized power plants pose a large resilience risk and monetary expense. However, there might be one form of power that can be a game changer. Since islands are surrounded by water, the can harvest the kinetic energy from the waves crashing onto their beaches. Complimenting this with other renewables, island nations can achieve true self-sufficiency. This is How Wave Energy Can Help Island Nations.
How Energy Storage Can Increase Carbon Emissions
“How can energy storage increase carbon emissions?”
Numerous renewable energy proponents around the world are promoting energy storage as the solution to intermittency. However, if not planned out carefully, energy storage can be very unsustainable. This is because energy storage can store any type of energy, clean or not, with a preference for cheaper inputs. This means that cheaper overnight coal might be used for storage and then placed against more expensive natural gas or solar. In addition, energy is lost during storage, so the net efficiency drops as well. This is How Energy Storage Can Increase Carbon Emissions.
Image and research credit Hittinger, E. S., & Azevedo, I. M. (2015). Bulk energy storage increases United States electricity system emissions. Environmental science & technology, 49(5), 3203-3210.
Quasi-static Time Series
“How can we work with time-dependent and discrete data?”
Distributed Energy Resources can have many different discrete processes that are time dependent such as solar panels producing usable current and batteries absorbing energy. And sometimes these time-dependent processes might actually have multiple different time periods. Since normal analysis is too difficult to integrate with this, we can use something called Quasi-static Time Series to quantify our data.