Innovating Autonomous Microgrids

Internet Think Tank director of Energy Sustainability, Mohamed Abaas PhD., has been awarded a patent for his autonomous energy microgrid design (Patent No.: US-12388256-B2). The design integrates AI technology with blockchain smart contracts to predict energy usage and autonomously transact discretionary energy based on dynamic pricing models. 

Originally investigated at Villanova University for his doctoral thesis, Dr. Abaas envisioned a need for managing sustainable energy among a network of homes, buildings, and renewable energy sources. The autonomous microgrid can forecast the amount of energy needed for consumption weeks in advance and what energy should be allocated for trading. Since changing weather patterns can drastically alter energy collected through solar and wind, predictive AI algorithms are used to forecast spikes and valleys in energy availability. Furthermore, consumers use energy at different rates depending on time of day, days of the week, and other cyclical patterns. AI incorporates these shifting energy demands as well to determine how much energy a consumer will need at any given point in time. Dynamic energy pricing is used to reflect real time supply and demand, while blockchain smart contracts are used to trigger buy and sell orders automatically between energy buyers and sellers. 

For example, if Bob and Sally are neighbors in an autonomous microgrid, each would collect and store energy produced from solar panels or wind turbines. If Bob is an energy-efficient user, he will have excess energy to trade on average. Bob’s discretionary energy is determined by his relatively low usage as well as upcoming weather conditions to safeguard energy he may need in the coming days. If Sally, on the other hand, is a heavy energy user, she can automatically purchase energy from Bob at the right time and price while securely paying Bob over a blockchain network.  

This innovation not only accounts for the dynamics of weather and usage on tradable energy, it also accounts for changes in user behavior, particularly during emergencies when people are likely to hoard energy or buy in excess. This technology can smooth out energy supply and demand by using dynamic pricing to counter hoarding and panic buying. 

Another critical use of this technology is helping regions maintain power during traditional power grid failures. Centralized power grids rely on generators and distribution infrastructure with single points of failure. While this centralized approach has enabled widespread power delivery to regions, it also comes with several vulnerabilities. One is that failures along transmission lines can escalate quickly, leading to outages for large populations with no alternative power options. Two, a power plant’s rigidity makes it difficult to adapt to changes in local energy demands or to integrate renewable energy sources.  And three, when disruptions occur, restoring power often depends on manual intervention that can be slow.  An autonomous microgrid, however, relieves neighborhoods from centralized power failures caused by severe weather, such as hurricanes, or even cyberattacks. Autonomous microgrids are also very flexible for adding various types of energy sources. And a power outage at any one point on the microgrid will not introduce a widespread outage. Internet Think Tank is leveraging these benefits to test autonomous microgrids in environments heavily impacted by severe storms, such as Puerto Rico, which was plunged into darkness for months after Hurricane Maria devastated the island’s central power grid. 

“If such innovation had been applied in Puerto Rico in 2017, it would have mitigated the impact from the power outage dramatically,” stated Mohamed Abaas. “The full recovery of the centralized power grid took almost two years, whereas deploying an autonomous microgrid would have resulted in a significantly faster recovery time.”

This technology also lays the groundwork for microgrids in a rather unlikely environment – space.  Satellites critically depend on power to maintain communication with Earth. Known as the “link budget,” engineers carefully balance the energy acquired from a satellite’s solar panels with the energy it needs to perform essential tasks and communicate with ground stations.  Innovations in energy beaming technology, however, are opening new doors for trading energy between satellites, setting the stage for inter-satellite microgrids. Energy soaking satellites (satellites equipped with large solar arrays to store large amounts of energy) would serve as the renewable energy sources and would beam that energy to other satellites in the form of microwaves or lasers. Satellites with large power needs for onboard AI processing and other data intensive tasks, will now have a contingent power source that can provide energy on demand.   Internet Think Tank is conducting research around implementing space-based microgrids through both its Energy Sustainability and STAR (Space Technology and Research) Labs.  

Autonomous microgrids mark a significant evolution in energy management from the centralized grid model. Unlike the traditional approach, autonomous microgrids operate as clusters of local energy systems that can function independently or in coordination to deliver power where it is needed. This decentralized approach eliminates single points of failure, which means local disruptions do not cascade into larger system-wide outages.  Autonomous microgrids are also inherently more flexible, adapting to shifts in supply and demand while integrating renewable energy sources seamlessly. Internet Think Tank continues to mature this patented innovation to apply autonomous microgrids in a variety of environments.