Speaker: Prof. Anna Scaglione
Faculty Host: Professor Gil Zussman
Abstract: The past ten years of research had produced a variety of models for managing flexible electric loads, by enabling a more efficient dynamic pricing of electricity that would alleviate congestion in the grid. Many believe that this is a necessary component to support integration of renewable power. However, real change has been hard to come by in practice. The goal of this talk is to review such models, highlighting the difference between distributed algorithms, that seek to decompose the problem, and aggregate representations that map large populations of flexible loads onto spinning reserves, to interface the whole sale electricity market. The objective is to highlight the challenges that exist in transforming and remaining compatible with the established retail and wholesale market practices and how new abstractions may be necessary to rip the benefits of flexible load as a viable alternative to bulk power storage.
