Energy Systems Integration Newsletter June 2018

Eaton, NREL Launch Projects on Grid Integration and Mobility, Crowdsourced Solar Collaboration Sparks Innovation, and Pioneering Solar Research Wins Outstanding
Project Award

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NREL, Eaton Launch Projects on Grid Integration, Mobility

Eaton, NREL Launch Projects on Grid Integration and Mobility, Crowdsourced Solar Collaboration Sparks Innovation, and Pioneering Solar Research Wins Outstanding Project Award

NREL and Eaton expanded their decade-long partnership on June 8 with a kickoff at NREL’s Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF). Ramanath Ramakrishnan, Eaton’s executive vice president and chief technology officer, attended the meeting and presented along with members of NREL’s leadership team.

The expansion includes new work centered around grid integration. Ramakrishnan said the crux of the relationship is “all things grid related” and called the expansion pivotal. More specifically, this new project focuses on strategies for optimizing Eaton’s electric vehicle fleet integration with the grid, creating a framework for the integration of mobility with other distributed energy resource (DER) technologies.

At the meeting, Bill Farris, NREL’s associate laboratory director, highlighted partnerships as a key piece of realizing market impacts. Relationships with companies like Eaton are critical to the equation. “We understand the fundamental science that underpins the technology,” Farris said. “But the real impact is felt when that technology hits the market.”

The ESIF is one of the only megawatt-scale research facilities in the United States that enables integration studies at full power and actual load levels in real-time simulation and is designed to be a connecting point for industry, academia, and government to work together. It is an ideal setting for transit research with Eaton.

“What we’re all doing here is a centerpiece for innovation,” Ramakrishnan said. “Like-minded people come and work and talk. That’s where the magic happens.”

Joining Forces to Field-Test a More Reliable, Resilient Grid

The Solar Energy Innovation Network, a new effort supported by the U.S. DOE Solar Energy Technologies Office, brings together nine teams comprising utilities, local and state governments, nonprofits, and others from across the U.S. to explore new ways for solar energy to improve the affordability, reliability, and resiliency of the nation’s electric grid.

Each team has selected its own areas of interest, such as pairing solar energy with electric vehicle charging or increasing DER penetrations in rural electric cooperatives. Experts from NREL and other national laboratories as well as the Rocky Mountain Institute will advise the teams and provide analytical support. The nine teams are grouped into two larger cohorts, organized around shared goals, and they will be joined by future cohorts that are still to be determined. Read more about the Solar Energy Innovation Network in a recent article in Solar Magazine or watch a video on NREL’s role in this effort.

NREL Collaboration with First Solar, CAISO Receives Outstanding Project Award

For their joint efforts in a pioneering demonstration leveraging large-scale solar to provide ancillary grid services, NREL, First Solar, and the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) received the inaugural Smarter E AWARD for Outstanding Project at the recent InterSolar Europe Conference in Munich, Germany.

With increasing levels of variable generation on the electric grid, there are fewer traditional generation resources with automatic generation and voltage regulation controls, highlighting the need for more operational flexibility in modern grid systems. To address this need, the NREL-First Solar-CAISO team conducted a series of demonstration tests implementing grid-friendly controls on a 300-MW photovoltaic (PV) power plant in California. The team successfully demonstrated how PV power plants can provide essential reliability services related to different forms of active and reactive power controls, including spinning reserves, load following, voltage support, ramping, frequency response, variability smoothing, frequency regulation, and improved power quality.

As stated in the award citation, the Smarter E review jury called the study “proof of concept … a game-changer for large-scale solar plants” that demonstrated how “solar power plants can not only reduce the need for carbon-emitting resources but can also improve system performance and operate with significantly higher levels of variable generation.”

“The project team carried out a pioneering demonstration concept to show how various types of active and reactive power controls can leverage PV generation’s value from being a simple variable energy resource to a resource that provides a wide range of essential reliability services,” said Vahan Gevorgian, chief engineer with NREL’s Integrated Devices and Systems group and NREL principal investigator for the project. With support from the DOE Solar Energy Technologies Office, Gevorgian conducted the demonstrations with Mahesh Morjaria, First Solar’s vice president of systems development, and Clyde Loutan, CAISO principal engineer.

Criteria for the Outstanding Project 2018 Smarter E AWARD included demonstration that the nominated project was exemplary for global future applications and was unique in its realization.

NREL Researcher Advances Grid Control with New Publication

Andrey Bernstein, an NREL senior researcher, presented his recent grid modernization research earlier this month at the 20th Power Systems Computation Conference in Dublin, Ireland, the leading conference on theoretical and computational aspects of power system applications, from microgrids to megagrids.

The paper that Bernstein presented, Multiphase Optimal and Non-Singular Power Flow by Successive Linear Approximations, is an important development in optimal power flow methodology. The method can accommodate different load/source connection types and can be applied to both radial and meshed networks. It can be used to control the grid in real time, guaranteeing stability and optimality of the system.

Bernstein’s work contributes to a project within the DOE Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium specifically aimed at accommodating distributed energy resource participation in grid control. Visit the distributed optimization and control research page to learn more about related research at NREL.

NREL Hosts Third U.S.-China Smart Grid Workshop

Mutual standards, joint publications, and data exchange were the goals and next steps outlined by working groups at the third U.S.-China Smart Grid Workshop, held June 20–21, 2018, near NREL’s campus in Golden, Colorado.

Under the Smart Grid Initiative, the two countries have been conducting a series of industry forums to exchange information on test procedures, capabilities, and results on technology developments that support advancements to grid modernization and energy efficiency. The three meetings held thus far have been conducted in alternating locations between the two countries. The recent June event brought together nearly 80 participants and speakers from government and industry across China and the United States.

“This workshop enabled researchers and manufacturers to understand the need to address gaps in standards in both the United States and China,” said Murali Baggu, chief researcher and manager of NREL’s Energy Systems Optimization and Control group at the ESIF. “Outputs from the workshop will help accelerate the acceptance of manufactured smart grid products such as devices, tools, and systems to further their real use in each country,” he said.

With support from working group leads at NREL, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and DOE, Baggu planned the fully packed agenda—including NREL, ESIF, and three offsite industry tours—for the June event.

The workshop was designed to highlight the progress of three working groups (the Electric Vehicles Working Group, Renewable Energy Working Group, and Demand Response Working Group) and two research collaborations (Microgrids Working Group and Big Data Analytics Working Group), promoting interactive exchanges of information. Breakout sessions provided each group a collaborative space to report on progress since the last U.S.-China Smart Grid workshop, which was held in Nanjing, China, in November 2017, and identify shortfalls, solutions, and new goals for collaboration.

Additionally, as part of the Renewable Energy Working Group plan, researchers from NREL and the China Electric Power Research Institute successfully conducted demonstration testing at the National Wind Technology Center, using the site’s Controllable Grid Interface and megawatt-scale energy storage system.

The next U.S.-China forum is tentatively scheduled for October 2019 in Beijing, China.

Laboratory Data Exchange Extends Weather Forecasts

NREL and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Earth System Research Laboratory have initiated a collaboration to understand the resources of weather-dependent and oceanic renewable energy systems. The two national laboratories will exchange prediction forecasts and data discovery to further their mutual interest in characterizing weather-related renewable energy.

“Both NOAA and NREL share in a commitment to promoting scientific advancements in weather forecasting and grid stability,” said Yingchen Zhang, manager of the Sensing, Measurement, and Forecasting group at NREL. “By exchanging resources and sharing in data discovery, both laboratories can more effectively support a reliable and cost-effective grid.”

The collaboration will involve the exchange of wind and solar prediction forecasts, impact analysis of extreme weather events, and the possible sharing of supercomputing resources for the advancement of both lab’s missions. To learn more about NREL’s work in forecasting.

IEEE 1547-2018: Relevance of Recent Standards Revisions Explained

For four years, NREL researchers have been leading a full revision of IEEE Standard 1547, the key technical document that dictates grid interconnection requirements for distributed energy resources (DER). Now that IEEE 1547-2018 is published, what does it mean for you? To help spell out the full impact of the technical guidelines, NREL Principal Engineer Michael Coddington presented on the document’s scope and significance in a recent webinar.

The webinar clarified the importance of the updated standards for the full range of DER stakeholders—energy regulators, utilities, DER developers, vendors, certifiers, and consultants. Opportunities and required actions for each group were explained, along with the standard’s applicability to future technologies. Other relevant updates to the standard include test requirements for grid support functions such as voltage regulation and voltage/frequency ride-through.

NREL has been the lead organization in developing the IEEE 1547 standards since the late 1990s. The recent revisions were accomplished on schedule under the leadership of NREL’s David Narang, chairman of IEEE 1547-2018, and with significant contributions from several other NREL experts.

 To understand the full significance of recent IEEE 1547 revisions, you can view a recording of the webinar. Lean more about NREL’s work in integrated devices and systems.

Workshop on Cybersecurity

As DERs become a larger part of the energy mix, they must be secured against the risk of cyberattack. With the rise in DER deployment, future attacks could come in the form of spoofing sensor data or control signals or in the form of a breach of personally identifiable information because of the use of private networks on customer-owned DERs.

In collaboration with Sandia National Laboratories, NREL invites utilities, equipment vendors, academia, and national labs to join a workshop on cybersecurity and DERs on NREL’s campus in Golden, Colorado, on July 17. The workshop will highlight the NREL-Sandia collaboration to develop a flexible cryptographic solution for DERs that will provide robust security and a low total cost of ownership. The workshop will foster engaging discussion and productive breakouts to further understand the potential challenges for cybersecurity and DERs—and help the NREL-Sandia team develop a cryptographic module that meets industry needs.

Scaling up Renewables: Greening the Grid in the Philippines

The Republic of the Philippines is taking steps toward transforming its power system, informed in part by an NREL analysis of how to accommodate 50% renewable energy on the island nation’s Luzon-Visayas power system. Its roadmap for transformation, which now includes the entire country, relies on NREL’s Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) Transmission Planning Process guidebook, which was developed as a resource for power system planners, developers, key decision makers, and stakeholders who are interested in the REZ process as a proactive approach to integrate transmission expansion planning and renewable energy generation planning.

The aim of a REZ process is to “identify high concentrations of high-quality resources in easily developable areas for the purpose of siting new transmission,” said Senior Analyst and Economist David Hurlbut. “It’s basically taking existing load and transmission data and looking at where you can add the highest penetrations of new renewable energy at the least cost. It’s quantified feasibility.”

An earlier NREL study, Greening the Grid: Solar and Wind Integration Study for the Luzon-Visayas System of the Philippines, demonstrated that renewable energy targets of up to 50% are achievable in the power system that’s planned for 2030 in the Philippines. The government’s efforts now aim toward implementing cost-effective power sector enhancements. An initial set of stakeholder workshops and meetings were held in Manila in late May, facilitated by Hurlbut and Nathan Lee, a postdoctoral researcher in power sector planning at NREL. The workshops prepared energy planners in the Philippines to begin a transmission expansion process by following the steps outlined in the REZ guidebook, which is authored by Lee, Hurlbut, and Energy Analyst Francisco Flores-Espino.

NREL’s work in renewable power system planning, including resources like the REZ guidebook, has far-reaching, international relevancy beyond the Philippines. Funding for the solar and wind integration study, the guidebook, and NREL’s ongoing work in the Philippine power sector is provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which has supported NREL’s work on grid modernization and advanced energy integration on several continents.

To learn more, visit the USAID-NREL page or the Greening the Grid website.

NREL Develops Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Plan for U.S. Army

Navigating the transition to alternative fuel vehicles while ensuring access to the appropriate fueling and charging infrastructure can be a challenge. DOE’s Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) provides the latest information, applications, and resources that federal fleets need to facilitate smooth transitions to fuel-efficient futures. To provide technical expertise to back government agencies converting to electric vehicles (EVs), FEMP tapped NREL.

NREL’s electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) Tiger Teams offer technical guidance on EVSE installations and site-specific planning. Between 2015 and 2017, the teams completed 15 site assessments for federal agencies, recommending charging systems based on vehicle needs, electrical infrastructure, and site-specific considerations. Following these assessments, the U.S. Army sought NREL expertise to evaluate 30 installations to support the Army’s transition to a passenger vehicle fleet consisting of 50% or more EVs. NREL’s Transportation and Hydrogen Systems Center and Integrated Application Center will complete these assessments in 2019 and determine what the Army needs to support their planned fleet. This analysis will provide lessons that can be applied to other government and commercial fleets.

FEMP has asked NREL to expand the EVSE Tiger Team service to include a train-the-trainer approach, developing subject matter expertise within agencies. The training will be structured around a combination of presentations on equipment and installation background and field demonstrations reviewing existing EVSE and prospective installations. “The EVSE Tiger Team training will help agencies scale up their penetration of EVs and charging infrastructure without requiring team visits to each individual site,” said Cabell Hodge, NREL’s federal fleet project leader. “It’s a more sustainable model in the long term.”

Researchers Win Best Paper Award on Model of Ternary Pumped Storage Hydropower

ESI researchers Zerui Dong, Jin Tan, Mark Jacobson, and Vahan Gevorgian received a best paper award at the recent IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications. Their paper on the “Development of Dynamic Model of a Ternary Pumped Storage Hydropower Plan” presents the team’s development of a ternary pumped storage hydropower (T-PSH) model, which can operate in three different modes: generating mode, pumping mode, and hydraulic short-circuit mode.

Hydropower is the largest source of renewable energy in the United States, and pumped storage hydropower (PSH) can both generate and absorb power. This allows PSH operators to sell power during peak hours and improve grid stability when energy demands are low. T-PSH is a new, more advanced type of PSH that uses a single generator rotating in one direction with two runners connected to the same shaft—one runner pumps water while the other generates power as a turbine.

In their report, the researchers present simulation and validation results to verify the model’s performance against characteristics of the T-PSH technology. The published report will be available later this year.