Towards an Internet of Energy, Part I: The grid of the future is Autonomous

There’s been a lot of talk about the “Internet of Energy”. Many of these analogies miss how the internet actually works. While an Internet of Energy will occur, it’s not in the way people think...

There’s been a lot of talk about the “Internet of Energy”. As more and more connected devices get installed, the grid will become more distributed and connected. However, many of these analogies miss how the internet actually works. While an Internet of Energy will occur, it’s not in the way people think.

When people think of the Internet, they imagine an amorphous cloud. Data is pushed and pulled from that cloud and the Internet sort of just exists. This is the view many of these “Internet of Energy” takes have. Data from connected devices such as EVs, smart meters, solar panels, batteries etc is all sent into the Internet cloud where they start communicating. But this misses an important distinction between the Internet and the grid.

The network of networks

Very few people stop to think about how the Internet actually works. How is data sent from one part of the world to the other? If you’re slightly more informed you may know that data moves across optical fibres in the form of light pulses, but have you stopped to think about how those light pulses are directed?

The Internet is a network of networks. Data isn’t sent into some amorphous cloud; it travels through an interconnected network of networks (hence Inter-net). These networks are called Autonomous Systems (AS) and are run by Internet Service Providers (ISPs). ISPs can be small local providers, large international corporations, Government Organisations or Universities. An ISP may run more than one Autonomous System, but each Autonomous System is under the control of a single entity. Within their AS, each ISP is responsible for routing data within the Autonomous System, managing the network infrastructure, and deciding how to handle traffic that enters and exits their Autonomous System.

Routing data through the Internet

If I’m in New York and I want to access a website who’s servers are based in London, how does the data get to me? This is where IP addresses come in. IP addresses are basically an address book for everything connected to the Internet. If I go to www.substack.com, my computer or phone will go to a translator (the DNS registry) and get the following IP address: 104.18.33.245; which corresponds to the server that hosts Substack.* This IP information is added to the front of my data packet and acts as an address in the international postal service that is the Internet.

So, how does this relate to Autonomous Systems? Due to a number of different communication protocols, each router (the devices in the AS that move the data around) knows the IP addresses of all the other routers it is linked to; as well as all the routers they’re in turn linked to, and so on until the entire AS is mapped into a routing table present in each router.

In the above network example, if a data packet addressed to Router 4 arrived at Router 1, it would have two options to route the packet; via Router 2, or via Router 3 and then Router 2. Based on several factors it will then decide the best way to send this data on. For example, the links between Routers 1 and 3 and Routers 3 and 2 may be faster than the links between Routers 1 and 2, so it decides to send the packet on to Router 3 as it will be the quickest route. Other factors that impact the decision include bandwidth, server capacity and reliability.

Things get a little more complicated if the address for the data packet is outside the Autonomous System. What happens if the address is for Router 6 which is in Autonomous System - B? This is where Border Routers come in. These are routers on the edge of the network and are responsible for routing data between different Autonomous Systems.

When the data arrives at Router 1 with an address for Router 6; its routing table knows that it needs to send the packet to Router 4 so it can be sent on to AS-B. Once it gets to Router 5 in AS-B via Router 4, Router 5 knows it’s an internally addressed packet and sends it where it needs to go. This process happens recursively as data travels across different Autonomous Systems to reach its end address. The Border Routers know which other Autonomous Systems they’re connected to (and in turn the other ASes they’re connected to) and update their routing tables accordingly. Thus data automatically travels across the internet. Its global nature comes from this extensive network of interconnected Autonomous Systems, each independently managed but working together through standardised protocols. Router connectivity is automatically and dynamically mapped. As routers and end devices are added or removed, the routing tables automatically update to reflect the new network topology.

*Note that this is a slight simplification and the DNS registries and IP address data are stored in several places to save memory and increase the speed of getting the right IP address.

The Grid as a network of Autonomous Systems

By now you’re probably wondering what any of this has to do with the grid, and why I spent so long explaining how IP addresses and routing works. With the rise of distributed generation and DERs, the grid will become more like the internet, but not in the way people think.

As DERs and distributed generation proliferate, the distribution grid will become more like the Autonomous Systems I’ve described. Each distribution grid will act like an Autonomous System and resolve its power balancing locally, based on the connectivity of devices present in the network. There will be a few border substations that will act like border routers and be the point of connection with adjacent distribution grids; either directly through medium voltage lines or via high voltage transmission lines. They will open and close connecting channels to draw or push power to adjacent grids to balance the wider system; but only after resolving their power needs locally first.

In this way, we can move towards an autonomous grid that is balanced in a distributed way, rather than through a centralised, top-down process like it is now. More to come about how to actually make this happen as well as the potential implications for utilities.

Edit: You can read Part II here