Jones Seminar: Role of Grid Edge Control in Electrification and Flexibility Markets

Optional ZOOM LINK
Meeting ID: 962 3557 9087
Passcode: 651327

Exciting energy innovation and opportunities are emerging at the grid edge, the interface between electric grids and end users. Widespread electrification has driven the need of grid edge control to reframe the way we balance the whole system and mitigate extreme risks. In this talk, I will demonstrate why the grid edge should evolve from passive connectors to proactive energy hubs, and highlight the key technologies that could drive this shift. I will narrow down the scope to demand flexibility and coordinated operation, and present two specific use cases regarding electric vehicles and demand response market. Both cases are focused on the novel cooperative control to provide essential grid services for cost-effective and resilience needs. Future challenges and opportunities at the grid edge will be thoroughly discussed in the end.

Hosted by Professors Cong Chen, Junbo Zhao, and Vikrant Vaze.

About the Speaker(s)

Grant Ruan
Postdoc, MIT LIDS

Grant Ruan is currently a postdoc with the Laboratory for Information & Decision Systems (LIDS) at MIT, hosted by Prof. Munther Dahleh and Prof. Marija Ilic. Before joining MIT, he received a PhD in electrical engineering from Tsinghua University in 2021, and worked as a postdoc with the University of Hong Kong in 2022. He visited Texas A&M University in 2020 and the University of Washington in 2019. He serves as the associate editor of IET Renewable Power Generation. He was named the outstanding reviewer for several prestigious journals, including IEEE Trans on Power Systems (2023) and IEEE Trans on Sustainable Energy (2024). He was selected for the 2023 cohort of Future Leaders Summit held by the University of Michigan. His research interests include AI for sustainability, learning for control, electricity market, energy storage, and demand response.

Contact

For more information, contact Amos Johnson at amos.l.johnson@dartmouth.edu.