Full Title: Power Systems on the Cusp of Fundamental Transformation: From Spinning Machines to Power-electronics
Author(s): Julie A. Cohn
Publisher(s): Baker Institute Center for Energy Studies
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Many challenges face the effort to green the grid. Some of the most familiar include the variability of wind and solar resources and the need to assure generation from other sources when they are not available; the current technical limits on storage batteries; the inadequacy of existing transmission networks to connect utility-scale renewables in sparsely populated areas to electricity users in commercial, urban, and industrial centers; access to rare earth metals and other materials used in solar panels, batteries, and other new technologies; and uncertainty around whether electric vehicles will take or contribute power to the grid and under what scenarios. Importantly, however, the nature of the power system is changing and the underlying logic for controlling and optimizing electric power may not work well in the future.