Efficient, Affordable Grid Control
High-voltage transmission lines are increasingly overloaded – complicating the delivery of electricity. Prudent Energy's VRB® provides a powerful, practical solution.
Power companies deliver electricity across high-voltage transmission lines to the consumer. This "bulk" transmission of power must be coordinated down to the millisecond, across different yet inter-connected networks, to avoid widespread blackouts.
Once electrons flow from a generating unit to a transmission grid, the laws of physics dictate that they will follow a path of least resistance. Where do they go? The capacity of a network of transmission lines, location of a power generation plant, and amount of power consumed by factories, businesses and homes all play a role in the complex movement of electricity.
Energy policy makers, regulators and industry leaders have become increasingly concerned about the overloading of bulk high-voltage transmission lines. In particular, "bottlenecks" hamper the ability to integrate remotely-generated traditional and renewable power into the network. And yet, any major upgrade of an electric power transmission system is not only expensive; it is a delicate technical balancing act – with unpredictable effects on electricity producers, deliverers, and consumers. Public opposition can quickly mount over the siting and construction of new lines, and deciding who pays for an improvement to a grid that benefits many users is always contentious.
Prudent Energy offers an immediate, practical solution to alleviate high-voltage transmission bottlenecks: megawatt-scale energy storage at low capital and operating costs.