EAGER: Electrical Grid Leveling by Distributed Energy Storage

1135368 (Nguyen)。由于同时出现电力需求高峰，我们的电网目前超负荷。这种同步需求设定了发电厂的峰值发电水平和电网的峰值电力输送能力。随着人口增长和交通电气化的实施，美国和世界各地的峰值电力需求预计将大幅增加。这给建设新发电厂和升级电网带来了巨大压力。日总电能需求相对稳定，但其分配率（功率）并不均匀，日间负荷几乎是夜间负荷的两倍。如果我们能创造出一种方式，使每日总能源需求以恒定的速率输送，那么我们现有的为峰值电力而设计的发电厂和电网，就能更有效、更经济地生产和输送能源。此外，新发电厂的部署和电网的升级或更换可以以更易于管理和更少破坏性的速度完成。一个可能使这成为可能的概念是将电能存储在局部？使用点？当需求低或不需要使用时，需要它。这方面的一个例子是在需求和成本较低的夜间购买和储存电力，以便在需求和成本较高的白天使用。这种分布式能源存储方法允许发电厂和电网以更经济和可持续的水平运行。这个为期一年的拟议项目计划对这一概念及其对当前能源生产和分配系统的影响进行系统和经济学研究。将评估两种存储应用，空调的相变系统，电能的主要用途，和电化学存储系统（固定电池，液流电池和燃料电池）。研究小组将确定每个应用程序的需求，并确定这些系统必须具有的最小往返存储效率和成本，以利用现有的价格差异具有竞争力。他们将确定当本地储能容量用于各种应用领域（商业和住宅）时，发电厂和电网容量的百分比。这项工作将由两名本科生完成，化学工程和电气工程各一名。所产生的结果将用于一门名为？可持续能源？PI正在为堪萨斯大学工程学院的所有学科开发。这种分布式储能概念可能会对我们目前的电力生产和传输基础设施产生变革性的影响。这项研究所产生的数据将对能源生产和传输行业以及研究界非常有用。最后，这项研究将作为一个很好的场所，向参与的本科生介绍能源和环境可持续性问题，并为培养更了解这些可持续性问题的劳动力做出贡献。

1135368 (Nguyen). Our electrical grids are currently overloaded because of simultaneous peak electrical energy demand. This simultaneous demand sets the peak power generation level for power plants and peak power delivery capacity of the electrical grids. The peak power demand in the US and around the world is expected to increase significantly as the population grows and electrification of transportation is implemented. This creates a significant pressure for the need to build new power plants and upgrade the electrical grids. While the total daily electrical energy demand is fairly constant, its distribution rate (power) is not uniform with daytime load being almost double the night time load. If we can create a way in which this total daily energy demand is delivered at a constant rate, our existing electrical power plants and grids, which were designed for peak power, could produce and transmit energy more efficiently and economically. Furthermore, new power plants deployment and electrical grid upgrades or replacement can be done at a rate that is more manageable and less disruptive. A concept that may make this possible is to store electrical energy locally at the ?point of use? when demand is low or not needed for use when it is needed. An example of this is to buy and store electricity at night, when the demand and cost are low, for use in the day time when the demand and cost are high. This distributed energy storage approach allows the power plants and electrical grids to operate at more economical and sustainable levels. This one-year proposed project plans to conduct a systems and economics study of this concept and its impacts on the current energy production and distribution systems. Two storage applications will be evaluated, phase change systems for air-conditioning, a major use of electrical energy, and electrochemical storage systems (stationary batteries, flow batteries and fuel cells). The research team will identify the requirements of each application and determine the minimum round-trip storage efficiency and costs that these systems must have to be competitive using existing price differences. They will determine the percent of power plant and grid capacity that will become available when local energy storage capacity is used in various application sectors (commercial and residential). This work will be done by two undergraduate students, one each from Chemical Engineering and Electrical Engineering. The results generated will be used in an elective course called ?Energy for Sustainability? that the PI is developing for all disciplines in the school of engineering at the University of Kansas. This distributed energy storage concept may have a transformational impact on our current electrical energy production and transmission infrastructures. The data generated by this study will be very useful to the energy generation and transmission industries and the research community. Finally, this research will serve as an excellent venue to introduce issues on energy and environmental sustainability to the participating undergraduate students and to contribute to the development of a workforce that is more knowledgeable of these sustainability issues.