DERConnect test bed helps shape future of energy management

Finding the optimal balance between energy generation and energy use is proving critical as California aims for a power grid that is 100% powered by renewable energy sources by 2045.

Researchers at UC San Diego have established a “living laboratory” on the La Jolla campus—a hybrid of physical infrastructure and simulated data—to help better establish and manage that delicate balance.

The distributed energy resources test bed, DERConnect, collects real-time data from more than a dozen buildings on campus. This project will also monitor many of the campus’s solar panels, electric vehicle (EV) chargers, light fixtures and smart plugs. The system is running real-time load tests and turning that data into intelligent decisions about which loads to control and how. Data is also available for outside researchers from both industry and academia.

A main issue for utilities is that renewable power sources are variable instead of continuous. For example, solar panels produce plentiful energy during the daytime, sometimes exceeding demand in Southern California, but they do not produce power at night. Wind energy can only be collected when the wind blows. Utilities will also have to juggle demand from an increasing number of electrical devices, especially EVs.

DERConnect is helping researchers answer a range of essential questions that must be explored in real-world environments. For example, during a heat wave when the grid is stressed because energy demands surpass energy supplies, what kind of algorithms best balance the variable energy input from solar panels and the energy requests from people’s electrical demands, including charging EVs? Or, when energy demand spikes and the wind stops blowing unexpectedly, what kind of autonomous control systems can be deployed to keep the grid stable while also meeting all the needs of people served by the grid?

To help provide answers to these questions and others, “we are replicating the entire California power grid in one campus,” says Jan Kleissl, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering and the project’s principal investigator. And what isn’t already available on campus as a physical entity will be simulated by the system. “The servers and computers are capable of simulating power grids for entire cities and entire states,” he says.

“Creating the DERConnect test bed addresses an outstanding national need for large-scale testing capabilities across universities, national labs, industry, utility companies and independent system operators to validate future technologies for autonomous energy grids in real-world scenarios,” says Kleissl. “A significant obstacle to adopting such technologies in the operations of real energy systems is the development of realistic test cases at relevant scales.”

Ultimately, the researchers aim for DERConnect to help utility companies balance their power generation with the power demands of people by creating space for researchers to study both.

DERConnect allows researchers to better understand what demand exists at various points in a day, week, month and year. This information can help balance power supply with power demand at a granular level. For example, for campus office spaces, the physical system can tell when no workers remain on a floor, so lights and air conditioning can be put on standby to save energy. It can also redirect surplus power generated by renewable energy to batteries if it isn’t needed immediately or draw power from these batteries when demand outstrips what energy is currently produced from renewable sources.

“We designed DERConnect as a flexible research platform to allow researchers to dig into some of the hardest hardware, software and controls questions related to distributed grids of the future,” says Kleissl. “The reality is that no one knows exactly what grids of the future will look like. The energy sector is changing fast—and at the same time, energy demand is rising and the grid-control tools at our disposal, including tools incorporating artificial intelligence, are moving fast and could potentially change the grid landscape.”