Bridging the Gap to Next Generation Power System Planning and Operation with Quantum Computation
Priyanka Arkalgud Ganeshamurthy, Kumar Ghosh, Corey O'Meara, Giorgio Cortiana, Jan Schiefelbein-Lach
TL;DR
This paper addresses the growing computational burden in next-generation power system planning and operation caused by rising renewable penetration, distributed energy resources, and data-intensive monitoring. It surveys how quantum computing techniques, including HHL-based linear solvers, QAOA, VQE, QAE, QKD, and quantum ML, can accelerate state estimation, contingency analysis, optimization, forecasting, and security tasks in grids. The authors propose a quantum-readiness framework, discuss challenges in hardware, encoding, and ill-conditioned problems, and highlight cross-disciplinary needs to translate quantum capabilities into practical power-system tools. Overall, the work aims to bridge power engineers and quantum specialists, laying a roadmap for near-term demonstrations on NISQ devices while outlining long-term, fault-tolerant prospects with significant potential for real-time, scalable grid analysis and control.
Abstract
Innovative solutions and developments are being inspected to tackle rising electrical power demand to be supplied by clean forms of energy. The integration of renewable energy generations, varying nature loads, importance of active role of distribution system and consumer participation in grid operation has changed the landscape of classical power grids. Implementation of smarter applications to plan, monitor, operate the grid safely are deemed paramount for efficient, secure and reliable functioning of grid. Although sophisticated computations to process gigantic volume of data to produce useful information in a time critical manner is the paradigm of future grid operations, it brings along the burden of computational complexity. Advancements in quantum technologies holds promising solution for dealing with demanding computational complexity of power system related applications. In this article, we lay out clear motivations for seeking quantum solutions for solving computational burden challenges associated with power system applications. Next we present an overview of quantum solutions for various power system related applications available in current literature and suggest future topics for research. We further highlight challenges with existing quantum solutions for exploiting full quantum capabilities. Additionally, this paper serves as a bridge for power engineers to the quantum world by outlining essential quantum computation fundamentals for enabling smoother transition to future of power system computations.