Multiverse and Iberdrola embark on electric grid project
Multiverse Computing, based in Spain, is working with a fellow Spanish company, the multi-national electric utility Iberdrola on a 10-month project to explore the use of quantum software for complex optimization problems, such as the search for optimal battery locations within the electrical network, according to a Multiverse statement.
The news comes as Multiverse has been working with many companies in many different industries (Renault in the automotive sector, for example) on similarly complex problems involving many variables. The joint project is occurring within the framework of the Gipuzkoa Quantum Program, of the Gipuzkoa Provincial Council, DFG-GFA. Gpiuzkpa id a province in the Basque region of Spain where both Multiverse and Iberdrola are located, as well as entrepreneurial services firm BIC Gipuzkoa, which also is involved.
The Multiverse statement added that i-DE, the distributor of the Iberdrola group and an operator of smart grid technology, has chosen an optimization problem that consists of selecting the optimal number, characteristics and locations for batteries installed in the power grid. Batteries are important to the flexibility of the power grid, as such grids must integrate an increasing amount of renewable generation, electric vehicles and other distributed energy resources, the company said. and, for this, batteries will play a relevant role in providing flexibility to the power system. Therefore, the selection of their optimal placement is critical and, due to the number of variables and possible locations, of great computational complexity.
Iker Urrutia, i-DE’s Gipuzkoa Area Manager, stated, “The Basque Country has become a reference point for quantum computing, and Iberdrola, committed to this land and to innovation, has located here the Iberdrola Global Smart Grids Innovation Hub, its international reference center in the development of technologies for smart grids. Therefore, Iberdrola’s collaboration with Multiverse, a start-up from Gipuzkoa, is a natural alliance that will keep Gipuzkoa and the Basque Country at the forefront of quantum innovation.”
Dan O’Shea has covered telecommunications and related topics including semiconductors, sensors, retail systems, digital payments and quantum computing/technology for over 25 years.
