Empowering Grids: AI Solutions for Energy Congestion

In our ever-more digitally connected world, the electricity demand is surging. As our reliance on technology and electric devices deepens, so does the complexity of managing energy distribution. Among the most formidable challenges confronting power grid operators is energy congestion. This congestion results in inefficiencies, drives up costs, and can lead to power outages. Fortunately, integrating artificial intelligence into grid management is emerging as a potent remedy for these issues. In this article, we will delve into how AI can play a pivotal role in optimizing the management of energy congestion.

Understanding Energy Congestion

Energy congestion arises when the electricity demand surpasses the power grid’s capacity to deliver it efficiently. Many factors, including extreme weather events, abrupt spikes in energy demand, or insufficient infrastructure, can trigger this predicament. When congestion occurs, grid operators must make swift decisions to balance supply and demand, often resulting in suboptimal outcomes.

The Challenges of Traditional Grid Management

Historically, the management of electrical grids relied heavily on rule-based systems and manual interventions to tackle congestion-related issues. Grid operators meticulously monitored grid performance and manually adjusted power generation and distribution as needed.

Nevertheless, these traditional methods frequently needed to catch up in their ability to predict congestion before it transpired. This lack of foresight posed a significant obstacle to proactive management. With the capability to anticipate congestion, organizations could use reactive strategies. Essentially, they could only respond to congestion after it had already disrupted the system, leading to more extensive disruptions and lengthier recovery periods. This limited predictive capacity introduced significant safety risks in critical emergency response or disaster management situations. The inability to forecast congestion or bottlenecks severely impeded effective emergency response.

According to annual reports from organizations like NERC in 2018 and the Iran Grid Management Company, nearly 70% of electrical outages stemmed from equipment failures or power grid problems, with human error contributing to roughly 9 to 17% of these incidents. The reliance on manual interventions made these situations susceptible to human error, causing delays in addressing congestion or even erroneous decisions that exacerbated the problems. These errors translated into avoidable costs, including overtime payments, resource wastage, and missed revenue opportunities.

Inefficient resource allocation in energy management presented a substantial challenge, mainly because traditional methods struggled to adapt to the dynamic demands of energy consumption. However, the emergence of AI has ushered in a transformative solution to these persistent challenges. According to a 2020 report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), AI applications in energy systems have the potential to reduce energy consumption by up to 10%, resulting in significant cost savings. Furthermore, a 2018 study by McKinsey & Company indicated that AI-driven predictive maintenance alone could cut maintenance costs by as much as 40%. Additionally, a 2019 report by Navigant Research highlighted that AI-driven grid management could enhance grid efficiency by 10% to 15%, leading to reduced operational costs and greater capacity for integrating renewable energy sources.

The Role of AI in Grid Management

AI offers a range of applications, including real-time line contingency management, dynamic line rating, utility-scale storage operation, renewable energy forecasting, curtailment forecasting, and proactive infrastructure monitoring, all of which can help prevent energy congestion by enhancing grid reliability, efficiency, and resilience. Here are six examples of how AI can be leveraged to alleviate congestion in the energy sector:

Real-time Line Contingency Management: AI can proactively identify and manage line contingencies in real time, preventing congestion by avoiding situations where power lines are overloaded or at risk of failure.

Elevating Line Capacity with Sensorless Dynamic Line Rating: This feature assesses line conditions in real time and optimizes line capacity, reducing bottlenecks and congestion by ensuring power lines operate at their maximum capacity without exceeding safety limits.

Real-time Operation of Utility-Scale Storage Systems: Utility-scale storage systems can store excess energy during periods of low demand and release it during peak demand, alleviating congestion on the grid. Real-time operation and monitoring ensure effective management.

Centralized Asset Monitoring and Operation: While not directly preventing congestion, a centralized platform for monitoring and controlling energy assets improves overall grid management efficiency, leading to better resource coordination, faster contingency responses, and reduced congestion risk.

Renewable Energy Forecasting: Accurate forecasting of renewable energy generation aids grid operators in managing supply fluctuations, and preventing congestion by efficiently integrating excess renewable energy into the grid without overloading transmission lines.

Proactive Infrastructure Monitoring and Failure Prediction: Proactive maintenance and monitoring of critical infrastructure, such as relays, prevent unexpected failures that could lead to grid congestion, minimize downtime, and ensure the reliability of critical components.

Relevant Statistics and Sources

To provide a more comprehensive understanding of the energy congestion issue, let’s integrate relevant statistics and sources:

• The entire electric grid in the U.S. has an installed capacity of 1,250 gigawatts. Still, there are 2,020 gigawatts of capacity in the interconnection queue lines around the country. (Source: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report).
• In 2022, the active energy capacity in interconnection queues in the U.S. exceeded the installed capacity of the entire U.S. power plant fleet, about 1,250 gigawatts (Source: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report).
• On average, a new power generation project took 35 months, from the interconnection request being filed with a grid operator to an interconnection agreement being reached in 2022 (Source: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report).
• The rates of interconnection applications that reach commercial completion vary significantly, but none are higher than 38% in the New England region (Source: Berkeley Lab data).
• In the MISO region, interconnection costs have risen to a few hundred dollars per kilowatt-hour for wind and solar, with spikes as high as $1,000 per kWh in some parts (Source: Rob Gramlich, founder of Grid Strategies, as mentioned in the article).
• About 38,000 MW of renewable projects have yet to be built due to siting, supply chain, or other industry-related issues (Source: Jeffrey Shields, a PJM Interconnection spokesperson, as mentioned in the article).
• Congestion costs on the U.S. power grid increased by 56% in 2022, reaching an estimated $20.8 billion (Source: Report by consulting firm Grid Strategies).
• Congestion costs in regional transmission organizations (RTOs), excluding California, grew from about $7.7 billion in 2021 to approximately $12 billion in 2022 (Source: Grid Strategies report).
• The top three RTOs with the highest congestion costs in 2022 were the Midcontinent Independent System Operator ($3.7 billion), the Electric Reliability Council of Texas ($2.8 billion), and the PJM Interconnection ($2.5 billion) (Source: Grid Strategies report).

Energy congestion is a pressing issue in today's power grids, but artificial intelligence is poised to revolutionize its management. By leveraging AI, grid operators can predict and prevent congestion, optimize energy distribution, and enhance grid resilience. As our reliance on electricity grows, AI-powered grid management is vital for a reliable and sustainable energy future. If you'd like to explore some real-world use cases of AI in grid management, don't forget to visit our Use Cases page for deeper insights and examples.