Rob Cuzner, professor, electrical engineering, spoke on the “Lee Rayburn Show” on Wisconsin Public Radio Rising about meeting the rising demand in Wisconsin for electricity and the future of the energy grid in the age of data centers.
The discussion centered on what it takes to add more microgrids to meet the consumer demand and augment existing national grid.
One strategy of the utilities is to diversify the number of energy sources. That is where the microgrid concept comes in, said Cuzner. Microgrids integrate the generation of electricity from various sources and combine it with stored energy, providing outage protection for small areas.
“When you get these power outages,” Cuzner told Rayburn, “it reminds you how hard it is to function without [power]. … During weather events the microgrid can take over and keep a whole community operational.”
But, like energy distribution itself, microgrids are complex, he added, and involve many pieces of equipment that need to communicate with one another. Cuzner explained how AI is now being used to improve the efficiency of power distribution in microgrids.
“If you get a short in your toaster, you don’t want the power in your whole house to go down. So you have this coordination that has to happen (to manage the flow of electricity). You need AI to help it interact with the distribution, especially at the extreme conditions when something bad is happening. It also plays a huge role in designing these systems.”