High-Frequency Power Electronics at the Grid Edge: A Bottom-Up Approach Toward the Smart Grid

Currently, Solar Energy Systems are supplying 2% of U.S. electricity generation and their use is rapidly growing. Data centers make up 2% of the U.S. total energy consumption. By 2030, 40% of the overall worldwide energy consumption is expected to be in the form of electricity. The future development of transportation electrification and smart grids requires grid-scale energy storage. These emerging and high-impact applications locate in the distribution grid. They represent exciting opportunities in developing fundamentally new principles for high-performance power electronics that are smaller, smarter, more efficient, and capable of performing new functions (Figure 1).