How Packetized Energy Management Can Reduce Outages
Packetized energy management (PEM) could be the solution to balancing supply and demand across the grid. And this is important because it will likely be more difficult as time goes on to achieve balance between electric supply and demand for a multitude of reasons.
On the one hand, demand will almost certainly increase going forward due to electrification in transportation (i.e., electric vehicles), HVAC and other areas. On the other hand, supply challenges will probably become more frequent due to the ongoing retirement of coal and nuclear plants coupled with the increase in renewable energy sources which have more variability of output compared to traditional generation sources.
The solution, according to many experts, is PEM.
The Nuts and Bolts of Packetized Energy Management
So, what exactly is packetized energy management? In a nutshell, it serves to balance the grid while also maximizing the use of renewable energy without the need for large amounts of energy storage capacity. The concept essentially relies on electrical devices to “request” energy packets in real time. Each request is coordinated by a centralized coordination entity that can either accept or reject the request based on current market conditions.
The key element of this system is a bidirectional communication channel, and it also assumes some degree of randomization, meaning that not all devices will require power at the same time, rather it will be random and staggered. The two concepts of packetization and randomization are what allow billions of devices to connect to the internet without any centralized scheduling or controls.
Note that this is fundamentally different than demand-response programs – these programs attempt to balance supply and demand on a fixed schedule based on historical patterns of demand, whereas PEM is flexible and responsive and does not rely on a fixed schedule. Importantly, the requests under PEM are not necessarily executed based on immediate need (i.e., the water temperature of a water heater reaches its lower limit) – rather, the device would request packets of energy for short periods of time throughout the day.
The article linked to above offers a huge amount of technical detail on packetized energy management for those who want to take a deep dive. It seems like a great idea, but I’m not sure how long it might be before it can be executed in practice. As always, time will tell.
