The study, “Asymmetry underlies stability in power grids,” was published in the journal Nature Communications on March 5, 2021. This study, supported by Northwestern University’s Finite Earth Initiative, reveals that there are some benefits to diversity in the power grid. Publication of this study comes at an opportune time, following the devastating power outages in Texas concerning its separate power grid. The study examines power grids in the United States and Europe, finding how generators operating on different frequencies return to original states quicker when damped by breakers at different rates than surrounding generators.
“It’s a little bit like a choir without a conductor. The generators have to listen to others and speak in sync. They react and respond to each other’s frequencies,” says professor Adilson Motter.
Professor Adilson Motter
Professor Adilson Motter is the Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. To learn more about his research, visit his lab website.
Motter discusses his research on power grids in the Northwestern Now story: “Diversity can prevent failures in large power grids.”