Intelligent Electricity Grid Management

Abstract

Electricity plays a significant role for providing energy to society and enabling economic wealth. Electricity production today has a tremendous climate impact, corresponding to 40% of global GHG emissions. But electricity as an energy carrier can also be the enabler for an effective and large-scale decarbonization of both the mobility sector, by means of electric cars, and the heat sector, by means of heat-pumps. The first challenge in decarbonization is the integration of volatile RES production as world electricity generation increasingly shifts from fossil sources such as coal and gas towards renewable sources such as wind and solar power. The second challenge is the provision of the rising electricity demand due to electrification and the decarbonization of other sectors. The Smart Grid concept provides a framework to develop the electricity infrastructure’s environmental friendliness, safety, reliability, and sustainability. At the center of the Smart Grid concept is an intelligent energy management of distributed electricity generation, delivery and consumption. Intelligent energy as well as grid management, however, requires transparency, especially on the side of the low voltage distribution grid. The rapidly rising capabilities as well as cost decreases of information and communication technologies (ICT) and artificial intelligence methods enable an improved grid transparency and numerous opportunities for grid analytics. In the following, this article discusses and showcases the potential of electricity grid analytics to provide new insights for decarbonization.