Naomi Cooper
Atom Computing has partnered with the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory to explore the potential applications of quantum computing to optimize the U.S. power grid.
The team will research how quantum computing could be used to keep the electric grid stable and enhance decision-making on the re-routing of power during a switch or line downtime, Atom Computing said Thursday.
“Right now, operators primarily rely on their own experience to make this decision,” said Rob Hovsapian, a research adviser at NREL’s Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems. “This works but it doesn’t necessarily result in an optimal solution. We are evaluating how a quantum computer can provide better data to make these decisions.”
NREL and Atom Computing recently unveiled a “quantum-in-the-loop” framework that enables researchers to run large optimization problems on a quantum computer.
The open-source application works to simplify the translation of optimization problems into quantum variables and facilitate communications between quantum computers and power system simulations.
