Renewable Energy Data Mapping and Integration for the P J M Region

The PJM regional transmission organization oversees the movement of electricity to utilities throughout the Pennsylvania - New Jersey - Maryland metropolitan area of the Eastern U.S. The growing emergence of alternative energy sectors requires location-specific weather and geological data to be studied in the optimization of these energy systems, which is necessary in the greater response to global environmental issues. The goal of this research is to create a seamless software infrastructure based on MATLAB that continuously downloads and maps load and weather data to a centralized Process Information database; this data may be used in the future to propose further integration of renewable resources in the Eastern US based on predicted fluctuations in weather patterns throughout the day, with a focus on increasing renewable resources use in the region.

To reach this goal, a MATLAB script was created to access PJM data for load, wind, and solar generation and forecast in five-minute intervals through web application programming interface calls. This script was constructed to simultaneously write data to dataset-specific PI elements (having attributes in time, location, and value) in a local PI database through server connections using the PI-Software Development Kit Library. From this database, the data can be mapped and studied on a single trend.

The MATLAB-PI connection system was found to be successful in running independently and writing data to each of the respective elements in the PI database. Results for different profiles of wind and solar generation will be mapped and discussed against load profiles in the PJM region. Continued research will aim to analyze these resources on their power generation and feasibility using time series analysis and may recognize a single renewable resource as most feasible for the PJM region based on current locational information such as existence of electric systems or plants relevant to the resource.