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Quantum Computing Opportunities in Renewable Energy

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Abstract

Quantum computing is a new field of computing that relies on the laws of quantum mechanics to perform types of information processing that are not possible on traditional (”classical”) computers. As a result, quantum computers are capable of using problem-solving approaches which are not available to classical computers. Thus far, most research in quantum computing has taken place in physics and theoretical computer science, leaving a disconnect between these researchers and practical problems/applications. There is a need to identify good near-term problems to demonstrate quantum computing’s problem-solving potential. One possible area of contribution is in renewable energy. Adoption and scale-up of renewable resources in the next several decades will introduce many new challenges to the electrical grid due to the need to control many more distributed resources and to account for the variability of weather-dependent generation flows. We identify a few places where quantum computing is most likely to contribute to renewable energy problems: in simulation, in scheduling and dispatch, and in reliability analyses. The problems have the common theme that there are potential future issues concerning scalability of current approaches that quantum computing may address. We then recommend potentially fruitful areas of crossover research to advance applications of quantum computing and renewable energy.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Guohui Yuan, Danielle Merfeld, Travis Humble, Zhenyu (Henry) Huang, Alexey Gorshkov, Will Zeng, Himanshu Thapliyal, David Vernooy and Benjamin Verschueren for discussions on this topic, constructive suggestions and feedback on drafts of this paper. The authors would like to thank GE Research and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office for supporting this effort.

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  1. GE Research, General Electric Company, New York, USA

    Annarita Giani

  2. Department of Energy, Solar Energy Technologies Office, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Washington, DC, USA

    Zachary Eldredge

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  1. Annarita Giani
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Correspondence to Zachary Eldredge.

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This article is part of the topical collection “Quantum Computing: Circuits Systems Automation and Applications” guest-edited by Himanshu Thapliyal and Travis S. Humble.

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Giani, A., Eldredge, Z. Quantum Computing Opportunities in Renewable Energy. SN COMPUT. SCI. 2, 393 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42979-021-00786-3

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