Coordinating electric loads to improve power system reliability and economics

Wind and solar power production is uncertain and intermittent "“ these resources produce power when the wind is blowing and the sun is shining, not necessarily when we need it. In this talk, I will describe how commercial buildings and residential electric loads, like your refrigerator, can help get more renewable energy on the power grid, in addition to providing other services that make the grid run more efficiently and make power less expensive. We use tools from modeling, controls, and optimization to coordinate aggregations of electric loads to change their energy consumption patterns in ways that help the grid, while ensuring that consumers don't notice.