Atmospheric Input for Renewable Energy Microgrids (Educating 'Smart Grids')

‘Smart' mobile microgrids are evolving tools that could assist disaster relief efforts. A mobile microgrid is a semi-fixed, transportable power-generating resource that is able to connect to a larger power grid, yet is also able to function independently. Like the fixed microgrid, typical power out can range from 1-40MW. Renewable energy power resources, such as solar and wind power, tend to be constructed as ‘microgrids'. For microgrids to function effectively, their power integration needs to be transparent to the user. One of the significant challenges for a grid operator is to anticipate when to ramp up and down renewable energy resources. Smart grid technology has been addressing the automated balancing of power load requirements and resources. Not yet readily available to the mobile ‘smart grid' process is an automated atmospheric component. A long term research goal is to ‘educate' mobile (and fixed) microgrids with current and future atmospheric conditions, so that an automated ramping of atmospheric-dependent renewable resources can be seamlessly executed. In this paper, the ongoing research being done to support the long term vision will be summarized.