[Music]
[Applause]
what would my weekend look like without
electric power not so good I would have
no lights no computer no internet no
heating or cooling come to think of it
no running water because my house is on
a well so things could get smelly pretty
fast and no coffee and these are some of
the solar panels that live on the
rooftop of my house and on an average
day they make more electricity than I
consume unfortunately when the grid is
down they don’t make any electricity at
all and there’s a good reason for that
the inverter that’s the device that
takes direct current made by the solar
panels and turns it into alternating
current that’s compatible with my
appliances and with the electric grid
well the inverter is designed to turn
off when there’s a problem with the grid
so that utility operators who get sent
out to fix things don’t get electrocuted
okay I’m an engineer I have a solution
batteries batteries for when the Sun is
not shining and an inverter that’s
designed to work off-grid so now I’m
independent and I can say goodbye to my
electricity provider and I don’t have to
care about what happens to the big grid
right well maybe not so fast think about
what could happen after two weeks of no
electric power no food at the grocery
store no gas at the pumps because pumps
run on electricity if I get sick maybe
no drugs at the pharmacy if I get really
sick maybe the hospital won’t be able to
treat me and if this goes on for any
length of time
I might start coveting my neighbors
dog and this is not science fiction
this almost something like this almost
happened in New Mexico in 2011 during
the big freeze and a black sky event so
this is where a large section of the
grid goes down for an extended period of
time
it’s a real danger this keeps a lot of
people awake at night like people at
Homeland Security for example or utility
operators so ok the big grid is
vulnerable and my small survivalist grid
is probably also not going to help me
for very long so maybe the solution lies
somewhere in between at the community
scale so this is a community this is
Corrales New Mexico just where I live
85 8,500 people live there in about
3,000 houses and it’s a community not
unlike lots of other residential
communities in the United States this is
how people in Corrales get their
electricity the distribution feeder
that’s the set of blue and red lines it
taps into the transmission grid where
the little lightning is and it delivers
power to meters at people’s houses and
right now a small percentage of
electricity in Corrales is is generated
locally by about a hundred rooftop solar
installations just like mine
that’s where the little red dots are so
if we want to make our community more
resilient we could start by adding more
local generation more solar solar is is
becoming cheaper and cheaper by the day
so this is happening and while we’re at
it we could also install some batteries
batteries used to be really expensive
now they’re only moderately expensive
and they too are getting cheaper by the
day so this is also going to happen
okay so now I have lots of solar I have
batteries and let’s say that something
happens to the big grid so I go to the
substation and unplugged my distribution
grid from the transmission grid and I go
solo my community goes solo it’s called
the micro grid micro grid is a
self-contained electrical circuit that
has its own power generation and its own
loads okay so is this going to work
probably not the way things are set up
right now that’s because all these power
generators all these power consumers
they’re all doing their own thing nobody
talks to each other in fact they didn’t
even talk the same language a little bit
like the Tower of Babel so for example
when do it turn street lights on when do
I turn water treatment pumps on who gets
power first the Walmart the hospital or
customers TV sets
so one thing we have to understand about
power systems is that generation has to
be equal to consumption at any given
time otherwise the system crashes so
this is what happens right now in my
hypothetical high solar distribution
feeder that’s connected to the grid the
orange curve is generation from a few
hundred solar rooftop installations and
the blue curve is consumption power
consumption as a function of time is a
function of time of day and obviously
they’re not the same but that’s okay
because we’re connected to the grid so
it makes up for the difference so when I
disconnect from the grid though I have
to make sure that the two curves end up
matching so how do I do that not a whole
lot that I can do about the orange curve
because that’s driven by where the Sun
is where the clouds are if they get in
front and Sun but what I can do is I can
change the shape of the blue curve by
controlling thousands of
devices like smart appliances like
batteries like cars that are plugged in
electric cars that are plugged in for
recharging these things that might
belong to you and me they might belong
to local businesses they might even
belong to the utility and a couple of
other things that need to be there for
all this to work first of all we need
communication standards so that all
devices talk the same language and the
second thing that we’re going to need is
a micro grid controller so this is a
device that it’s a computer that takes
information from all these devices in
the wilderness what they’re doing now
what they want to do in the next five
minutes next hour and it makes some
relatively complex calculations and it
dispatches their operation so that
orange curve and blue curve end up
looking the same and we don’t completely
know how to do this but there’s a lot of
science a lot of research and
development going on at universities at
National Labs and in industry so how is
this going to affect how I use
electricity well under normal conditions
it’s not so my smart appliance is going
to do whatever it’s designed to do and
it’s going to work with the grid in the
background so for example my smart
thermostat is going to turn on and off
the air conditioner the compressor in
the air conditioner in coordination with
hundreds of other smart thermostats like
it but it’s gonna make sure that the
temperature that I set in the house
stays to what I set it to great but
still what’s in it for me why should I
care about any of this why should I pay
attention why should I spend any money
on this what did I just keep buying
cheap reliable electric power like I’ve
been doing for my entire life
well you can think about it as insurance
policy insurance policy against
something really big really bad
happening to the grid and this is
probably not a matter of if it’s more
like a matter of when and if something
like this happens we really might and
eating our neighbors pets or our
neighbors and on top of that we get a
cleaner environment because these
microgrids are able to absorb a whole
lot more clean renewable energy than the
system the way it’s set up right now so
let’s embrace our clean electric future
remember insurance works better if
everybody buys into it so when we make a
major purchasing decision let’s think
about this let’s think electric vehicle
let’s think smart appliance so let’s
think home energy management system also
we could allow our utility companies or
local governments or regulators to
upgrade the shared infrastructure that’s
on the ground already it may cost us a
little bit more in the electric bill at
the end of the month but upgrading the
electricity grid is something that we
have to do so let’s start now let’s do
it right and let’s have this
conversation what information are we
prepared to share what who can turn our
devices gadgets on and off under what
conditions under what circumstances and
let’s listen to what other people have
to say let’s make our voices heard it’s
complicated
we’re going to need to pay attention but
it’s gonna be worth it and it’s going to
be fun watching things change and maybe
we won’t be worrying as much about
waking up the next day to the breakdown
of civilization
[Applause]
[Applause]
what would my weekend look like without
electric power not so good I would have
no lights no computer no internet no
heating or cooling come to think of it
no running water because my house is on
a well so things could get smelly pretty
fast and no coffee and these are some of
the solar panels that live on the
rooftop of my house and on an average
day they make more electricity than I
consume unfortunately when the grid is
down they don’t make any electricity at
all and there’s a good reason for that
the inverter that’s the device that
takes direct current made by the solar
panels and turns it into alternating
current that’s compatible with my
appliances and with the electric grid
well the inverter is designed to turn
off when there’s a problem with the grid
so that utility operators who get sent
out to fix things don’t get electrocuted
okay I’m an engineer I have a solution
batteries batteries for when the Sun is
not shining and an inverter that’s
designed to work off-grid so now I’m
independent and I can say goodbye to my
electricity provider and I don’t have to
care about what happens to the big grid
right well maybe not so fast think about
what could happen after two weeks of no
electric power no food at the grocery
store no gas at the pumps because pumps
run on electricity if I get sick maybe
no drugs at the pharmacy if I get really
sick maybe the hospital won’t be able to
treat me and if this goes on for any
length of time
I might start coveting my neighbors
dog and this is not science fiction
this almost something like this almost
happened in New Mexico in 2011 during
the big freeze and a black sky event so
this is where a large section of the
grid goes down for an extended period of
time
it’s a real danger this keeps a lot of
people awake at night like people at
Homeland Security for example or utility
operators so ok the big grid is
vulnerable and my small survivalist grid
is probably also not going to help me
for very long so maybe the solution lies
somewhere in between at the community
scale so this is a community this is
Corrales New Mexico just where I live
85 8,500 people live there in about
3,000 houses and it’s a community not
unlike lots of other residential
communities in the United States this is
how people in Corrales get their
electricity the distribution feeder
that’s the set of blue and red lines it
taps into the transmission grid where
the little lightning is and it delivers
power to meters at people’s houses and
right now a small percentage of
electricity in Corrales is is generated
locally by about a hundred rooftop solar
installations just like mine
that’s where the little red dots are so
if we want to make our community more
resilient we could start by adding more
local generation more solar solar is is
becoming cheaper and cheaper by the day
so this is happening and while we’re at
it we could also install some batteries
batteries used to be really expensive
now they’re only moderately expensive
and they too are getting cheaper by the
day so this is also going to happen
okay so now I have lots of solar I have
batteries and let’s say that something
happens to the big grid so I go to the
substation and unplugged my distribution
grid from the transmission grid and I go
solo my community goes solo it’s called
the micro grid micro grid is a
self-contained electrical circuit that
has its own power generation and its own
loads okay so is this going to work
probably not the way things are set up
right now that’s because all these power
generators all these power consumers
they’re all doing their own thing nobody
talks to each other in fact they didn’t
even talk the same language a little bit
like the Tower of Babel so for example
when do it turn street lights on when do
I turn water treatment pumps on who gets
power first the Walmart the hospital or
customers TV sets
so one thing we have to understand about
power systems is that generation has to
be equal to consumption at any given
time otherwise the system crashes so
this is what happens right now in my
hypothetical high solar distribution
feeder that’s connected to the grid the
orange curve is generation from a few
hundred solar rooftop installations and
the blue curve is consumption power
consumption as a function of time is a
function of time of day and obviously
they’re not the same but that’s okay
because we’re connected to the grid so
it makes up for the difference so when I
disconnect from the grid though I have
to make sure that the two curves end up
matching so how do I do that not a whole
lot that I can do about the orange curve
because that’s driven by where the Sun
is where the clouds are if they get in
front and Sun but what I can do is I can
change the shape of the blue curve by
controlling thousands of
devices like smart appliances like
batteries like cars that are plugged in
electric cars that are plugged in for
recharging these things that might
belong to you and me they might belong
to local businesses they might even
belong to the utility and a couple of
other things that need to be there for
all this to work first of all we need
communication standards so that all
devices talk the same language and the
second thing that we’re going to need is
a micro grid controller so this is a
device that it’s a computer that takes
information from all these devices in
the wilderness what they’re doing now
what they want to do in the next five
minutes next hour and it makes some
relatively complex calculations and it
dispatches their operation so that
orange curve and blue curve end up
looking the same and we don’t completely
know how to do this but there’s a lot of
science a lot of research and
development going on at universities at
National Labs and in industry so how is
this going to affect how I use
electricity well under normal conditions
it’s not so my smart appliance is going
to do whatever it’s designed to do and
it’s going to work with the grid in the
background so for example my smart
thermostat is going to turn on and off
the air conditioner the compressor in
the air conditioner in coordination with
hundreds of other smart thermostats like
it but it’s gonna make sure that the
temperature that I set in the house
stays to what I set it to great but
still what’s in it for me why should I
care about any of this why should I pay
attention why should I spend any money
on this what did I just keep buying
cheap reliable electric power like I’ve
been doing for my entire life
well you can think about it as insurance
policy insurance policy against
something really big really bad
happening to the grid and this is
probably not a matter of if it’s more
like a matter of when and if something
like this happens we really might and
eating our neighbors pets or our
neighbors and on top of that we get a
cleaner environment because these
microgrids are able to absorb a whole
lot more clean renewable energy than the
system the way it’s set up right now so
let’s embrace our clean electric future
remember insurance works better if
everybody buys into it so when we make a
major purchasing decision let’s think
about this let’s think electric vehicle
let’s think smart appliance so let’s
think home energy management system also
we could allow our utility companies or
local governments or regulators to
upgrade the shared infrastructure that’s
on the ground already it may cost us a
little bit more in the electric bill at
the end of the month but upgrading the
electricity grid is something that we
have to do so let’s start now let’s do
it right and let’s have this
conversation what information are we
prepared to share what who can turn our
devices gadgets on and off under what
conditions under what circumstances and
let’s listen to what other people have
to say let’s make our voices heard it’s
complicated
we’re going to need to pay attention but
it’s gonna be worth it and it’s going to
be fun watching things change and maybe
we won’t be worrying as much about
waking up the next day to the breakdown
of civilization
[Applause]
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