Re: A research team has managed to coordinate 100 domestic air conditioners to stabilise the power grid in real time, as if they were a flexible power plant.

On 6/14/2025 6:14 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:

*A research team has managed to coordinate 100 domestic air conditioners to stabilise the power grid in real time, as if they were a flexible power plant.*

This approach represents a smart, efficient and cost-effective way to move towards a cleaner and more balanced energy model.

This is a no-brainer.  What has been "missing" is the means of TALKING to those
distributed loads in a manner that ensures they will *listen*.
Hotels/motels and large "institutions" have been using a similar
scheme for many deacdes -- but, they are omnipotent within their
individual domains so can easily force the issue.
[When you turn up/down the thermostat for the ROOM HVAC UNIT,
there is no guarantee that it will be providing heating or cooling
THAT INSTANT; a central controller time-division multiplexes
which rooms/units are active at any given time to ensure
all don't COINCIDENTALLY apply their loads at the same time,
without consideration of other users]
Such capabilities have been naked into ENERGY STAR requirements
for more than a decade:
<https://www.energystar.gov/sites/default/files/specs/ENERGY%20STAR%20Final%20Refrigerators%20and%20Freezers%20Demand%20Response%20Test%20Method.pdf>
While an individual refrigerator or "window air conditioner" doesn't
seem like much of a load to manage, taken in concert, they can
represent a large (and distributed!) load that can be used to
reduce the "instantaneous" demand on the utility.
[Imagine every residence in the Indian subcontinent having a
"refrigeration unit" with "a mind of its own" -- how big the tail
that would wag!]
I manage my ~3KW automation system's power demands in increments
of about 3W.  Is it going to save me any *money*?  No, but it will
let me decide where to spend my stored energy instead of blindly
powering devices whose functionality isn't ESSENTIAL at a time when
power is scarce.  Is there a reason the work being done by node
X can't be done when power is more plentiful?  Or, when node Y no
longer needs to remain powered?