Air Conditioners Can Actually Support the Power Grid. Here’s How

As the summer arrives, most people are turning the air conditioner to most USA but if you are like me you are always guilty of it. Past generation operated without air -conditioned – do I really need it? And how bad it is to use all these electricity to be cool in the world of warming?

If I leave my air conditioner I get very hot. But if everyone turns on their air conditioner at the same time, the demand for electricity is spikes, which may force the power grid operators to activate something Most expensive and most most, the power plantThe Sometimes these spikes can ask too much of the grid and lead it towards it Brownouts or blackoutsThe

Research I Although recently published with a group of scholars, I feel a bit better. We have found that it is possible Integrate the operation of a large number of home air-conditioning unitsSupply and demand in the power grid are balanced – and people do not tolerate high temperatures inside their homes.

To study along this line, use Remote Control of Air Conditioners In order to support the grid, hold on to many years Explore the theoretical possibility Like this However, a few approaches in practice have not been displayed and never appears for the high-value application of this national and this scale is not displayed on this scale. The system we developed did not show the ability to balance the grid during the few seconds, but it was proved that it was possible to do this without affecting the comfort of the residents.

The benefits include increasing the reliability of the power grid, which makes the grid easier to take more renewable energy. Our goal is to turn the air conditioners into an asset from a challenge for the power grid, supporting the fossil fuel to move away from cleaner energy.

Consistent equipment

My research on batteries, solar panels and electrical equipment – such as electric vehicles, water heaters, air conditioners and heat pumps – which could Adjust yourself From Take energy in different amounts at different timesThe

Originally, the US The electronic grid was built Transport of electricity from large power plants to customers’ houses and businesses. And basically, the power plants were large, centralized operations that burned coal or natural gas or energy from nuclear reaction. These plants were usually always available and could adjust how much energy they generated in response to customer demand, so the grid would be balanced from the producers and the forces to use the forces to use.

However, the grid has changed. There is The source of further renewable energyFrom which energy is not always available – such as the wind turbines in the solar panels or calm days at night. And contains devices and equipment that I study. These new options, which are called “distributed energy resources”, make customers to produce or store near it – or adjust how much energy they are using in real time.

One aspect of the grid has not changed, though: the system does not have too much storage. So every time you turn on a light, there is not enough electricity to supply everything you want for a moment: the grid needs a power maker to generate some more energy. And when you turn off a light, there is a little higher: a power generator needs to ramp.

Power-time power adjustments know how the power plants know what the power plants are needed to closely monitor the frequency of the grid. The target is a constant frequency – 60 Hartz – always supplying electricity. If you need more power than production, the frequency drop and a power plant increase the output. If too much energy is produced, the frequency increases and the production of a power plant slows down a bit. These verbs, a process called “frequency control”, occur within a few seconds to balance the grid.

This output flexibility, primarily from the power plant, is the key to keeping the lights for everyone.

To find new options

I am interested in how distributed energy resources can improve the flexibility in the grid. They may express more energy to respond to the altered supply or demand, or swallow less and help to balance the grid, ensure that the frequency is near the 60 heartjee.

Some people feared that it could be offensive to do it, giving Someone out of your house The ability to control your battery or air conditioner. Therefore, we wanted to see that we could help the grid balance with frequency control using the home air-conditioning unit instead of power plants-how do livers use their tools or do not affect how comfortable they feel in their home.

From 2019 to 2023, my group of University of Michigan tried this approach with the financing of the Department of Energy in the United States, Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of California, at the University of California Advanced research project agency-powerThe

We have appointed 100 homeowners in Austin, Texas to do a real-world examination of our system. The whole house was forcibly the air cooling system, which we attached to the custom control boards and sensors, allowed us to install their homes. These tools allow our grid to send instructions to the frequency -based air conditioning units.

Before explaining how the system works, I need to explain how the thermostats work. When people set the thermostats, they pick a temperature and the thermostat launches and stops the air conditioning to maintain air temperature in a small range surrounding that set point. If the temperature is set to 68 degrees, when the temperature is on the temperature, tell the AC, say, 70, and turn it off after it is cooled, say, 66.

In every second, our system changes the time of air -conditioning abbreviation for some of the 100 air conditioners, resulting in changing the cost of the overall electricity of the units. In this way, the small group of our home air conditioners responds to the grid that changes the changes in a power plant – using less energy to balance the grid and keep the frequency with 60 hearts.

Furthermore, our system was designed to keep the house temperature within the same small temperature range around the set point.

Tick

We run our system in four tests, each one lasted one hour. We’ve got two encouraging results.

First, the air conditioners were enabled Supply the frequency control At least one of the traditional thawing power plants is properly. Therefore, we have shown that air conditioners can play an important role in enhancing grid flexibility. But probably more important – at least in the case of encouraging people to participate in this type of system – we have found that we have been able to do this without affecting people’s comfort in their homes.

We’ve got the temperature of that house 1.6 Fahrenheit has not deviated From their set points. If homeowners are uncomfortable, the controls were allowed to override, most did not. For most tests, we received zero override requests. In the worst case, we have received override requests from two of the 100 houses in our exam.

In practice, this kind of technology can be added Commercially available Internet-connected thermostatsThe In exchange for credit for their energy bills, users may choose to join the thermostat company, their utility supplier or any other third party.

Then people can introduce air -conditioning without the guilt in the heat of summer, they know that they are helping the grid more reliable and helping to adjust the sources of renewable energy – without their own comfort in the process.

Johanna MathewAssociate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Michigan UniversityThe This article has been re -published from Conversation Under the Creative Commons License. Read KeyThe