OREANDA-NEWS. December 02, 2015. As the prospect of a highly integrated energy infrastructure becomes ever more likely, associated measures are becoming ever more urgent. For instance, as more and more power plants that used to ensure grid stability are shut off, “swarms” of distributed energy generation and storage units may provide a solution. Such swarm grids are comparable to virtual control units. A swarm has many individual units that are closely networked with one another. It also meets the very high demands that have to be fulfilled to ensure a reliable energy supply and system stability. The key question here is how much decision-making authority future swarms will be able to have in an overall system.

“In the future, we will have to integrate electronics, power electronics, and IC technologies more intensely into energy supply systems in order to ensure that they remain stable in normal operation as well as when a fault occurs,” says Schnettler. This trend is being supported by the increased use of power electronic components for the supply of electricity. As a result, Siemens researchers are forging ahead with, for example, the development of new converter technologies. “The new generation of converters is standardized and more affordable because it is less specific in its demands,” explains Schnettler. New opportunities for these technologies will be opened up by increasingly powerful software.