baby smart grid 11/09

BABY SMART GRID Concord Light Nov 23 2009

Jessica Millar, Ph.D. Dave Durfee, Ph.D.

Dumb smart grid

This winter, Monhegan Plantation Power District (MPDD) is studying George Baker’s concept of a “dumb smart grid,” to turn on inexpensive retail electric heaters that plug into outlets when the wind is blowing and turn them off when the wind is not.

-- Philip Conkling, President of the Island Institute

Renewable energy and heating

•  Heating and cooling use up about as much energy as gasoline for many family budgets

•  “Electricity” as we commonly think of it (lights, computer, TV, refrigerators) is much smaller use

•  Breakdown is 50-40-10 Gasoline, Heat, Electricity

•  Renewables for these uses can step around intermittency issue by simply storing heat and cold

-- Ocean Energy Institute

Wind balancing

Today: baby smart grid

Electric Thermal Storage providing Regulation

ISO  

VCharge  

Outline

•  Who we are

•  Regulation Pilot Project –  High level –  Our implementation details (Dave) –  How we would like you to help us –  Timetable & Milestones

•  2011 and beyond: what comes next

Team

•  EV Power (software/hardware for ETS aggregated regulation) –  Dave Durfee, principal of Bay Computer Associates and Adjunct

Professor at Brown University, brings to the table competent, timely and high quality engineering backed by a team of twenty electronics and software engineers. In addition, Dr. Durfee exudes a constant joy for all things engineering and his education and experience has given him a keen ability for assessing the technical merits of a wide range of engineering products and processes.

–  Jessica Millar, president of VCharge, sees the intersection between smart grid technologies and electric vehicles as the frontier with greatest potential impact on renewable integration into the power grid. With a Ph.D. from MIT in mathematical logic, Dr. Millar’s “previous life” as a mathematician included a stint as a Benjamin Peirce Instructor in the Harvard math department and most recently a visiting professorship at Brown University.

Team

•  VCharge (pilot energy service company, “EV/ETS aggregator”) –  Primary asset: joining NEPOOL this January –  Owned & operated by Jessica Millar … will expand as necessary

•  EV Power (software/hardware for EV/ ETS aggregated regulation) www.evpow.com : ddurfee@evpow.com, 401.461.1484

Team

•  Steffes Corporation (makers of the Electric Thermal Storage Units) http://steffes.com: dgaffney@steffes.com, 800.224.3769

•  VCharge (pilot energy service company, “EV/ETS aggregator”) http://veecharge.com : jmillar@veecharge.com, 401.212.9119

•  EV Power (software/hardware for EV/ ETS aggregated regulation) www.evpow.com : ddurfee@evpow.com, 401.461.1484

Team

•  Concord Light (Concord’s Municipal Electric Utility) Dale Cronan, 978.318.3102

•  Steffes Corporation (makers of the Electric Thermal Storage Units) http://steffes.com: dgaffney@steffes.com, 800.224.3769

•  VCharge (pilot energy service company, “EV/ETS aggregator”) http://veecharge.com : jmillar@veecharge.com, 401.212.9119

•  EV Power (software/hardware for EV/ ETS aggregated regulation) www.evpow.com : ddurfee@evpow.com, 401.461.1484

Team

•  Electrical Contractor Paul Keleher 978.838.2457

•  Concord Light (Concord’s Municipal Electric Utility) Dale Cronan, 978.318.3102

•  Steffes Corporation (makers of the Electric Thermal Storage Units) http://steffes.com: dgaffney@steffes.com, 800.224.3769

•  VCharge (pilot energy service company, “EV/ETS aggregator”) http://veecharge.com : jmillar@veecharge.com, 401.212.9119

•  EV Power (software/hardware for EV/ ETS aggregated regulation) www.evpow.com : ddurfee@evpow.com, 401.461.1484

Team

•  YOU, WE HOPE! (Concord home owners with Steffes ETS)

•  Electrical Contractor Paul Keleher 978.838.2457

•  Concord Light (Concord’s Municipal Electric Utility) Dale Cronan, 978.318.3102

•  Steffes Corporation (makers of the Electric Thermal Storage Units) http://steffes.com: dgaffney@steffes.com, 800.224.3769

•  VCharge (pilot energy service company, “EV/ETS aggregator”) http://veecharge.com : jmillar@veecharge.com, 401.212.9119

•  EV Power (software/hardware for EV/ ETS aggregated regulation) www.evpow.com : ddurfee@evpow.com, 401.461.1484

Outline

•  Who we are

•  Description of the Regulation Pilot Project –  High level –  Our implementation details –  How we would like you to help us –  Timetable & Milestones

•  2011 and beyond: what comes next

Stabilizing  power  fluctua3ons  

Source:  Wille,  Kempton  

Regulation

•  In order to limit the minute-to-minute fluctuations in power on the grid, the Independent Systems Operator of New England, or ISO NE, uses a financial mechanism: the regulation market. Participants in this market commit to an upper and lower range of power supply (with a negative number meaning power use) and agree to move back and forth in that range following a signal sent by ISO NE every 4 seconds, for an hour. Regulation providers are then paid for these services.

•  An aggregator is necessary to negotiate between individual plugged-in electric vehicles and/or residential electric heating units, which are too small to join the market independently, and ISO NE.

VCharge Participation Requirements

•  Electrical connection –  No further studies required by ISO NE –  Discussions underway with National Grid; initial sites identified for

vehicles. No issues predicted for interconnection study involving initial vehicles

•  Communications –  Pointlist for RTU entered into the ISO NE network model –  “Point to point” communication test for ISO NE complete.

•  NEPOOL Membership expected January 1 2010

•  Need +/- 100 kW to be “full participants” (and to get paid)

Why we need you!!

•  Need +/- 100 kW to be “full participants” (and to get paid)

•  Plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) are still a couple years off, at least in non-prototype form.

•  A single prototype v2g EV provides +/- 15 kW of regulation.

V2G stands for “vehicle to grid”, and refers to a vehicle that sometimes returns electricity to the grid while plugged in. This doesn’t mean the vehicle generates its own energy, but rather that its battery gets used as a storage device delivering electricity back to the grid.

What does commitment involve?

•  For the calendar year 2010 you would allow us to aggregate regulation from your ETS system.

•  At the start of the pilot, we would need to add an additional piece of electronics to your system – let’s call it an Energy Negotiation Unit (ENU) that will receive an internet signal from our aggregator software and vary the charging rate of the ETS system according to that signal.

•  You would need to provide an internet connection.

•  Finally, you would allow us to monitor and collect data about the performance of your ETS unit during this period of time.

Risks?

•  Since the charging rate will vary rapidly, on the order of minutes, there should be no significant difference in heat profile for the core. In particular, pilot participation should not have any effect on how you program your thermostat. The primary risk is that we make an engineering mistake that cannot be tested until a cold day in the field, and that the house becomes too cold. Dave’s engineers have a record of quality control with several decades of experience making medical devices (Bay Computer Associates, www.baycomp.com). In addition, Concord Light has agreed to provide back-up support during the pilot in the form of Off Peak pricing during the day in the event that the ENU backfires.

•  Minute to minute fluctuations should not hurt the ETS system; Steffes will continue to warranty its electronics and elements operating in series with the extra energy management module.

Financial return?

•  For the first year and for the first 5 homes, all regulation profit made by the home will be passed onto the home, except for a 10% commission that will go to Paul Keleher.

•  Total profit is on the order of a couple cents per kWh that your ETS system uses. Part of the point of the pilot is to get decent estimates.

•  Factors that could decrease the return:

-  NEPOOL fees

-  Initial software is pretty dumb

-  Preparing for the “real” Regulation Market: may need to bid the day ahead, and for a constant amount every hour

Timetable and Milestones

•  Dec 2009: Dave & BCA start preparing Energy Negotiation Unit (ENU) for Steffes ETS systems

•  Jan 2010: ENU ready for testing

•  Feb 2010: ENU installed on Steffes ETS systems in 5 Concord homes

•  March 2010: VCharge brings first month of data for aggregated residential ETS units providing regulation to ISO NE stakeholder process

•  October 2010: Prepare for season 2 by expanding to more users and deploying second generation aggregation software

Outline

•  Who we are

•  Regulation Pilot Project –  High level –  Our implementation details (Dave) –  How we would like you to help us –  Timetable & Milestones

•  2011 and beyond: what comes next

What Comes Next?

Postscript: what about cars?

V Charge logo

Plug-in Vehicles providing Regulation

Initial vehicles: will be totally electric (EV), and capable of returning electricity back to the grid when plugged in (v2g). –  E-Coda, totally electric urban vehicle prototype

developed by Chris Bull of Brown University and Michael Lye of RISD.

Possibly also –  AC Propulsion eBox, totally electric v2g vehicle –  Ford E-F250 conversion vehicle from HEVT

Technological Readiness

The Technology: v2g features/liabilities

•  30 kW range (-15 kW to +15 kW) vs. 3 kW range

•  Discharging wears down the battery

•  Distributed energy storage (likely necessary for high penetration of renewable energy)

•  Distributed energy storage (more difficult to integrate into current grid than 1-way charging)

220 MW wind

Source:  Wille,  Kempton  

220 MW wind, 30000 EVs

Source:  Wille,  Kempton  

Will we choose this future?

2010   2050   2100   2200  

Or will we choose this future?

2009   2030