直流微電網(wǎng)可以幫助確保穩(wěn)定和高效的智能能源

　　Thomas Edison，除了支持直流配電在臭名昭著的“電流的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)“特斯拉和西屋的觀點(diǎn)對(duì)能源供應(yīng)和可持續(xù)發(fā)展，是政策發(fā)展到今天驚人的相似。他贊成使用當(dāng)?shù)氐陌l(fā)電，這將減少直流輸電損耗，并著迷于利用可再生能源，如風(fēng)能，太陽(yáng)能和潮汐的前景。

　　當(dāng)然，今天人們?cè)絹?lái)越關(guān)注化石燃料的未來(lái)及其對(duì)環(huán)境的影響，這正是政策制定者對(duì)可再生能源的關(guān)注。同時(shí)，本地發(fā)電–是否連接到主電網(wǎng)的孤島已經(jīng)成為實(shí)用和經(jīng)濟(jì)上可行的技術(shù)進(jìn)步帶來(lái)了小型光伏陣列和風(fēng)力渦輪機(jī)在企業(yè)、金融及小農(nóng)場(chǎng)，和一些房主。從這些發(fā)電機(jī)的輸出通常是DC，必須在適當(dāng)?shù)念l率和電壓轉(zhuǎn)換成AC之前，它可以被送入本地線路電源。用于實(shí)現(xiàn)這一點(diǎn)的功率調(diào)節(jié)電路消耗了寶貴的收獲能量的百分之幾。如果可以消除一個(gè)直流-交流逆變器的需要，可以節(jié)省能源

　　Since Edison’s time， electricity consumption has increased significantly; in particular， through growing use of equipment such as PCs， mobile chargers， flat-panel televisions， and small office machines that are fundamentally DC-powered systems. Moreover， incandescent lighting is being phased out in favor of DC-powered LED replacements. Energy saving variable-frequency drives in appliances that traditionally contained AC induction motors such as washing machines or refrigerators now convert the AC line supply to DC before reconstructing an AC waveform at the right frequency to achieve the desired motor speed. In the longer term， the outlook for widespread use of plug-in hybrid or electric vehicles will further shift the balance of demand towards native DC loads that can operate more efficiently from a DC power source， eliminating the need for an AC/DC power supply at the input. The Electrical Power Research Institute （EPRI） estimates the efficiency gain for direct use of on-site renewable energy without conversion to AC could be up to 15%.

　　Today’s AC power grid， however， represents an enormous investment in equipment and technology. Moreover， vast quantities of appliances are currently in use that have been designed to run from a high-voltage AC supply， and would need to be adapted to run from a DC supply， or otherwise replaced. Consequently， a revolutionary change to adopt DC distribution is impractical.