The team found that their black box model — the first of its kind to work with free open-source software — produced results with an average error rate below 5% over a range of operating conditions. This exceeds industry standards for grid system planning and operation, design testing and field deployment. The model also runs 10 to 20 times faster than more energy-intensive conventional methods, Subedi said.
“The machine learning approach lets you get what you need by representing a system with just data, which is fascinating,” Subedi said. “The technology strikes a balance between accuracy and flexibility, overcoming the limitations of previous approaches and providing utilities and manufacturers with new capabilities.”
The method allows producers of power electronics to more easily evaluate how new controls and protection designs would function in full power distribution systems. This insight could shorten product development timelines to help new technologies reach the grid faster. The modeling capability can also build utility confidence in diversifying energy sources to enhance the overall power resilience and reliability.
Other ORNL engineers who contributed to the research include Yaosuo Xue and Yonghao Gui. The black box model is part of a larger project, led by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, for improving models that show how fleeting changes in voltage or current affect full-sized power distribution systems. For the black box modeling portion, PNNL contributed the open-source software and vendor data and will later test the model in a section of the grid operated by Commonwealth Edison, or ComEd, one of the nation’s largest utility companies.
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science. — S. Heather Duncan
This Oak Ridge National Laboratory news article "Research reveals hidden gifts of the ‘black box’ for modeling grid behavior" was originally found on https://www.ornl.gov/news
