Known as a “smart grid,” the experimental system was installed at UNM’s Mechanical Engineering building in 2005. The system has reduced emissions and cut costs, all while allowing operators to monitor every aspect of the building’s power usage from one location.
Hans Barsun, a doctoral candidate and UNM utilities engineer, said the basic idea is to create a communication network between all of the various utility functions in a power system.
Enabling the systems to communicate creates a more efficient and interactive way to run an energy system, he said.
“We are trying to demonstrate a new way to look at electrical load management,” Barsun said. “It’s not just the buildings or the power, it’s all one big network that can save money and make things more efficient.”
The smart grid also provides constant feedback to controllers, allowing the system to be more adaptable to changes in power supply and distribution, resulting in a more reliable power flow, he said.
For example, if a given load runs on photovoltaic cells and the sun goes behind a cloud, there will be a drop in available power while demand remains constant. A smart grid enables buildings to redistribute power immediately to offset the temporary drop instead of seeking additional power from energy suppliers to compensate, he said.
In terms of savings from the smart grid network, Barsun said it breaks down into a few pieces. Currently, utilities for the Mechanical Engineering building — including steam, chilled water and electricity — now run about $70,000 annually.
Some of the systems the smart grid helps control are the building’s solar power, controls on all wet systems, and central air handling units. These changes save an estimated $42,000 a year, Barsun said.
However, Barsun said the system in place at the mechanical engineering building is just the first step in optimizing power efficiency at UNM. The savings produced by a campus-wide smart grid would be in the millions, he said.
Leading the smart grid research at UNM is Andrea Mammoli, a professor of mechanical engineering and director of UNM’s Center for Emerging Energy Technologies.
He said the smart grid is unique in that it harnesses energy from the environment like solar power or wind generation to charge thermal energy storage cells beneath the building, serving as a renewable power reserve.
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“The smart grid system uses energy differently,” Mammoli said. “Basically, the idea behind it is to utilize intermittent renewable power.”
This enables engineers to store energy produced locally, reducing the demand from external suppliers, he said.
“The ability to have your power loads communicate with the rest of the system means that you’re essentially better able to balance production and demand,” Mammoli said.
With mounting pressures from all sides to reduce emissions and increase savings, Mammoli said one way to accomplish this is to distribute power through employing smart grid technology. His work has caught the attention of power suppliers like PNM and Mitsubishi Electric, and he believes the smart grid project and others like it are laying the foundations for what power grids of the future will look like, he said.
Mammoli said he plans to continue researching additional applications of smart grid technology, as well continue his work on similar projects around Albuquerque.
Tomas Lujan is a staff reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @TomasVLujan.
