Our personal and professional lives are increasingly dependent upon the communications of networked devices and having an adequate supply of power to run those devices. Gone are the days of our society feeling it is acceptable to do things later even if there are network outages or disruptions to the supply of electricity powering our devices. Since power intermittency is unacceptable, what needs to be done from a local power perspective? Will future electrical architecture be more like that of the Internet? When electrical demand outstrips generation, grid operators traditionally engage production from peaking power plants that use fossil fuels before forcing blackouts. This activity is referred to as balancing the grid. However, other imbalances between the power supplying the grid and the electricity being consumed locally can cause the frequency, voltage, or phasing to deleteriously vary near the final end point of use. For example, the increase in lower power factor and non-linear loads such as switch-mode power supply (SMPS), which can be found in virtually every power
electronic device (e.g., computers, servers, monitors, printers, photocopiers, telecom systems, broadcasting equipment, and electric vehicle chargers), can also be disastrous for ac power distribution. This is where local battery storage systems and microgrids come in. They can mitigate these issues locally or, better yet, help prevent them entirely. Bob Metcalfe, an American engineer and entrepreneur who co-invented Ethernet, describes the Internet model for energy as Enernet (Figure 1): "After 38 years as an Internet innovator, 10 years as a pundit, and with my wife, Robyn, a Ph.D. student in history, I decided to look back into Internet history for lessons on how to solve energy.” Distributing energy production on an Enernet would be a better architecture to assist with power quality and surety. While traditional electrical utilities have focused on centralized generation of bulk power, grid-connected local generation where the whole community contributes could be the improved electrical distribution model that is needed. The Enernet nodes would bear more resemblance to the Internet than the
INTERNET: ENERNET
The Enernet: A New Model for Energy
By Patrick Mahoney, Brian Patterson, Todd Taylor
When electrical demand outstrips generation, grid operators traditionally engage in a process known as balancing the grid, which may include rolling blackouts. Distributing energy production efficiently requires a new model to assist with power quality and surety. A new grid-connected local generation schema where the local community contributes could be the electrical distribution solution that is needed for a brighter future.
FIGURE 1: An Internet and Enernet structural comparison, EMerge Alliance, 2024.
I
I
14
ICT TODAY
October/November/December 2024
15
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs