Technologies that improve the efficiency of the electrical grid and allow consumers to sell renewable power back to utility companies are likely to get a boost as momentum grows for investment in the "smart grid."

A Wayne State University professor has received a $311,334 grant from the National Science Foundation to conduct computerized tests designed to gauge the promise of a control strategy that would improve grid efficiency.

Caisheng Wang, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering technology at WSU's College of Engineering, said he'd later set up a "microgrid" system to roll out his strategy at a university building."I believe this kind of small microgrid will play an important role in the smart grid" of the future, Wang said. "The system should be able to accommodate a variety of renewable sources. The big challenge will be how to integrate the current available technology into our energy infrastructure to do a seamless integration so we can achieve our goal. It's very challenging."

As the efficiency of locally generated renewable energy sources improves, consumers who invest in rooftop wind turbines or solar panels will want to sell unused power back to the grid. Utilities often refer to the technology as "net metering."

Scott Simons, a spokesman for DTE Energy, said the utility company supports the pursuit of technology that would streamline the process of feeding power back into the grid.

"If we can reduce the need for large base-load power plants, that's great," Simons said.

Simons said DTE expects to purchase locally generated renewable power from consumers at the same price that it sells power to its customers.

But the electrical grid was not designed to compensate for consumers generating their own power.

"The power flow is just one direction," Wang said. "It's always from the utility company, the substation to the users, so the power would not come back. But now, with all this distributed generation renewable sources, part of it can go back."

Policymakers at the Michigan Public Service Commission on May 26 approved guidelines allowing consumers to sell power back to the grid.

"With net metering rules now formally in place, electric customers across the state can now add small, renewable energy electric generation projects onsite and get credited for the energy they produce in excess of their needs - at the full retail rate," MPSC Chairman Orjiakor Isiogu said in a news release.

Wang's microgrid test could serve as a path for extending the model to broader applications. The system would use electricity from a traditional power plant in addition to its own renewable electricity.

"If the energy from all those alternative sources is more than what the building can consume, then we can sell the energy back to the grid. In that case, the power flow would be reversed," he said. "This does not mean the current power system is done. With the technology advancement in communication, in sensoring, metering, they control communication and also the energy infrastructure can be combined together."

Microgrids could also reduce the number of blackouts occurring because a power plant experienced a glitch. Renewable power sources could continue to supply energy despite the failure of a coal plant, for example.

"We can make a system more reliable," Wang said.

Contact Nathan Bomey at (734) 302-1725 or nathanb@mbusinessreview.com.