Minimizing heat loss in DC networks using batteries

TL;DR

This paper investigates how adding and coordinating batteries in DC networks can reduce heat loss during power transmission, accounting for stochastic external currents and deriving optimal control strategies.

Contribution

It introduces a method to optimize battery operations in resistive DC networks to minimize heat loss under stochastic conditions, including deriving dynamical control policies.

Findings

Batteries can significantly reduce heat loss in DC networks.

Optimal control strategies depend on network structure and stochastic current models.

The approach accounts for uncertainty in power generation and demand.

Abstract

Electricity transmission networks dissipate a non-negligible fraction of the power they transport due to the heat loss in the transmission lines. In this work we explore how the transport of energy can be more efficient by adding to the network multiple batteries that can coordinate their operations. Such batteries can both charge using the current excess in the network or discharge to meet the network current demand. Either way, the presence of batteries in the network can be leveraged to mitigate the intrinsic uncertainty in the power generation and demand and, hence, transport the energy more efficiently through the network. We consider a resistive DC network with stochastic external current injections or consumptions and show how the expected total heat loss depends on the network structure and on the batteries operations. Furthermore, in the case where the external currents are modeled by Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes, we derive the dynamical optimal control for the batteries over a finite time interval.