Quantum Information Science Can Optimize Energy Grid, DOE Executive Says

The Department of Energy’s commercialization executive has called for more public-private partnerships in quantum information science.

Quantum information science is the convergence of classical information science and the principles of quantum mechanics.

Rima Kasia Oueid, from DOE’s Office of Technology Transitions, said the emerging interdisciplinary field has the potential to enhance the U.S. power grid, FedScoop reported Tuesday.

“There’s been growing interest in the energy sector around combinatorial optimization, particularly for management of the grid for example,” Oueid said during an emerging technology conference hosted by the American Council for Technology – Industry Advisory Council.

DOE and its national laboratories are also currently exploring how quantum computing technologies can help the United States adapt to new energy demands and new sources of energy.

Quantum information science can also strengthen the cyber resilience of the energy grid through the emerging field of quantum cryptography.

Experts believe that quantum encryption can integrate energy flow across utility facilities and devices without exposing the energy grid’s communications to cyberattacks.

In March, DOE invested $30 million in five Nanoscale Science Research Centers to help scientists understand nature at the nanoscopic scale. NSRCs are interdisciplinary research centers that work on new tools and computing capabilities.

The funding will be used on technologies needed to understand quantum structures and on making research more widely available to the greater scientific community.

DOE has also announced plans to award $625 million over five years for the establishment of quantum information science research centers led by research teams from the Argonne, Brookhaven, Fermi, Oak Ridge and Lawrence Berkeley national laboratories.