Testbed evaluations of a controlled-delivery power grid

Abstract

We present two testbeds and experimental evaluations of the controlled-delivery power (CDP) grid. In the CDP grid, energy is addressable and the amount of power is allocated to users in real time. The energy supplier grants the amount of energy supplied to a user and at the same time, ensures that the total supplied energy is within a fixed cap. Energy amounts are discretized to minimize management complexity and optimized for digital control. One of our testbeds mimics the present grid and the other emulates a grid provisioned with energy storage. In the presented experiments, users request and receive grants through power access points implemented with low-cost computers. The management and control plane of a supplier was implemented with a workstation, and users and supplier communicated through a data network. Alternating current (AC) at 120 V power lines were controlled by the server and delivered power to the access points. The supplier was able to maintain a high satisfaction ratio in terms of requests granted and energy delivered under limited capacity conditions.