Quantum for Sustainability in Energy
QCentroid:
QCentroid is fostering a stakeholder ecosystem where sustainable transformation and prosperity are incentivized and aligned. We believe that science, data, and exponential technologies will be quintessential in realizing sustainable new ways of working, living, and driving sustainable industry transformation forward.
One of the focus areas of QCentroid is quantum computing for sustainability. In the previous article Quantum Against Climate change, we explored how quantum computing, a Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technology that we believe will form the base layer of the future technology stack, can have an exponential impact on the fight against climate change. Please refer back to that article for an introduction to quantum computing and sustainability.
In this article, we explore how quantum computing can bring about sustainable transformation in the energy sector.
We hope to inspire collaboration on individual, academic, and industrial scales in this effort. Please reach out to us to inquire about how we can join forces.
Energy:
Today’s computers are not ready for tomorrow’s energy needs. As the world’s energy needs increase rapidly, more and more sophisticated systems are required to support the growth of energy distribution networks. This has led to an exponential growth in the amount of data needed to maintain and optimize energy grids. Furthermore, the current security and communication infrastructures need an upgrade.
Quantum computing can help fulfill the computing requirements of the energy sector in various ways:
Renewable energy management: Renewable energy sources are great for the environment, but they are highly unpredictable. We are at nature’s mercy when relying on them, making it essential to be able to use hybrid models that optimize utilization of different energy sources for reliability, availability, efficiency and cost, among many others. Such optimization problems involving multiple variables are better solved on quantum computers which can handle thousands of variables and constraints.
Renewable energy storage: Due to the unreliability of renewable resources, efficient energy storage is critical to ensure uninterrupted demand fulfillment. Quantum simulation is helping in the development of better high-density batteries.
Location scouting: Renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and hydro energy sources are often in difficult to reach locations making plant setup and logistics costs important criteria when choosing new sites. These have to be weighted up with energy demand and resource availability. This is yet again an ideal use case for quantum computers. IBM and D-Wave recently demonstrated that an optimization problem for locating the best among 14 sites could be solved in 14 minutes on a quantum computer as opposed to 11 hours on a classical one.
Nuclear energy: Quantum computing can help meet the computing needs of the nuclear energy sector and could also pave the way for building sustainable nuclear fusion reactors.
Grid Security and Communication: In the highly digitized world we live in, cyber attacks on energy grids and plants are an omnipresent threat that can have massive humanitarian and economic costs. Quantum cryptography can help energy site operators safeguard themselves against such risks
Let’s collaborate!
This article is the third in a series on quantum computing for sustainability.
We look forward to feedback regarding this article and learn about further high impact applications of quantum computing for Energy.
We hope this article inspires collaboration to leverage quantum computing to drive the sustainable transformation of industries. Please reach out to us if you're interested in joining forces.
To learn more about QCentroid, please visit us at www.qcentroid.xyz or by email at info@qcentroid.xyz