Energy Systems Integration Newsletter: February 2021

In this edition, the 2020 ESIF Annual Report is now available; research paves the way for microgrid innovation; a Q&A with Kristin Munch, NREL's laboratory program manager for Advanced Computing; and more.

2020 ESIF Annual Report Describes Progress in Grid Modernization, Energy Resilience, and More

In 2020, NREL recorded multiple milestones in the critical research areas of energy systems modernization—including unprecedented simulations of major urban electric grids, a cutting-edge cyber-energy emulation platform, and the new Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems (ARIES) capabilities that will level-up our national research capacity for advanced energy systems. And all this is on top of many impactful partnerships and lab-directed projects.

This past year's ESIF Annual Report documents broad success in diverse sectors spanning electrified mobility, microgrids, energy storage, and hydrogen, and it hints at NREL's new ability to take a whole-system, whole-city perspective for integrated energy opportunities. Communities everywhere are transitioning to cleaner, more efficient, more resilient energy systems, and the ESIF Annual Report details the results of expert analysis and breakthrough innovations that are enabling energy transitions across the nation.

Read the full 2020 ESIF Annual Report.

Community Microgrids from All Angles: NREL Leads Microgrid Innovation

In 2020, the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Energy Technologies Office announced research projects that would advance solutions for community microgrids. NREL will lead one project—concerned with developing the controls and resources that support resilient microgrids across the nation—and contribute to two others.

NREL will build on its leadership in cellular, self-optimizing energy systems to design and demonstrate flexible controls that manage microgrid resources such as buildings, solar, electric vehicles, and others. NREL will also develop communications, fault-finding strategies, business resources, and adaptive control architectures to ensure communities everywhere can benefit from secure and efficient microgrids.

Read the full story about NREL's upcoming work in community microgrids.

Q&A with Kristin Munch: Advancing NREL's Computing Capabilities

Advanced computing is essential to research at NREL. As laboratory program manager for Advanced Computing, Kristin Munch helps develop the vision and strategy for NREL's computational infrastructure and ecosystem. She collaborates with researchers, leadership, and technology offices and programs in the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy to maximize the benefits of high-performance computing for research.

Read our full Q&A with Kristin Munch.

Progress for Puerto Rico's Grid with Recommendations To Streamline Resilience

In the wake of destructive hurricanes, Puerto Rico has been piecing together a long-term strategy for a sustainable electric grid that can manage future natural disasters. NREL contributed to that effort with an analysis of how distributed energy resource interconnection will impact Puerto Rico's grid. The report on Considerations for Distributed Energy Resource Integration in Puerto Rico is part of a multiyear, multipartner U.S. Department of Energy project to strengthen and support Puerto Rico's recovery and resilience.

The report primarily considers solutions to integrate more intermittent generation in the context of Puerto Rico's renewable portfolio standard goal of 100% renewables by 2050. A major recommendation for swift and thorough interconnection is to standardize both the technical integration of new resources and the operation of a storm-hardened power system. NREL specifically identified a need to adopt and implement the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standard 1547-2018 through training and education on the standard.

With so many additional renewables and distributed energy resources, Puerto Rico's future electric grid will blend multiple microgrid systems that can island and self-regulate or reconnect and interoperate with the larger grid. NREL recommends additional engineering studies for Puerto Rico to consider its planning, coordination, communications, and control strategies for the diversity and number of microgrids that are potentially expected.

NREL Partnerships: Partnering with FEMA for Recovery and Resilience

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, NREL was approached to assist with recovery efforts across the Eastern Seaboard. In the years since, researchers at NREL—led by Eliza Hotchkiss, a senior resilience analyst in NREL's Energy Security and Resilience Center—have played a key role in recovery and resilience planning for Puerto Rico and other communities recovering from disasters. Through NREL's partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), NREL has provided invaluable technical assistance and conducted energy audits to identify opportunities for improving local energy systems.

Read more about NREL's work with FEMA and other impactful partnerships.

NREL Researchers Recognized for Excellence in Integrated Energy Systems Research

As part of the annual Secretary's Honors Awards, which recognize U.S. Department of Energy employees for their service and contributions to the department's mission, NREL researchers Bryan Pivovar and Mark Ruth were awarded the Secretary of Energy Achievement Award. The two researchers earned the award for their collaborative work on a multilab team to address the technical feasibility, economic potential, and license considerations necessary to demonstrate hydrogen generation technology at two operating commercial nuclear power plants.

Read more about the awards and Pivovar and Ruth's research.

REopt Lite Adds a Fresh Dimension: Combined Heat and Power

The latest update to NREL's popular REopt Lite™ (Renewable Energy Integration and Optimization)—a free online web tool that allows users to perform feasibility analyses for grid-connected photovoltaics, wind, and battery storage—includes combined heat and power, expanding the model's scope beyond electric-only strategies. With these updates to the tool, users can evaluate many new technologies in addition to combined heat and power, including hybrid systems that combine combined heat and power with renewable systems and energy storage.

Learn more about the latest updates to REopt Lite.

NREL's dGen Analysts Forecast Solar Adoption for Orlando Households

The team of NREL analysts who run the open-source Distributed Generation Market Demand (dGen™) model customized it in a novel way to support the Orlando Utilities Commission as the city targets 100% clean energy by 2050. The dGen model individually simulated the solar adoption potential for every building in the Orlando Utilities Commission service territory in scenarios with different costs of solar and tariff structures through the year 2050. The resulting adoption potential was then mapped to distribution feeders. The findings highlight key technical and economic drivers that influence customer decisions and pinpoint areas with greater adoption potential, so Orlando grid planners know where to focus their efforts. Read the story, which includes a video highlight, and contact the dGen team to elevate your distributed generation studies.

Updated Global Clean Energy Manufacturing Data and Insights Available

To help inform manufacturing and policy decisions, the Clean Energy Manufacturing Analysis Center, a key program under the umbrella of the Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis, released the updated Benchmarks of Global Clean Energy Manufacturing report. Analysts assessed technologies—including wind turbine components, crystalline silicon solar photovoltaic modules, vehicle lithium-ion battery cells, and light-emitting diode packages—in 13 economies with clean energy manufacturing hubs from 2014 to 2016. Although many organizations have analyzed market aspects of clean energy manufacturing, trade and value added are unique to this report. The data and analysis provide insight into the shifting clean energy manufacturing landscape to help guide research agendas, highlight trade impacts, and identify manufacturing opportunities by location and technology.

Publications Roundup

Best Practices at the End of Photovoltaic Operations

What happens at the end of a solar photovoltaic system's life? There is more than one answer, depending on site-specific costs and regulations and on device-specific performance. NREL explores the alternatives in Best Practices at the End of the Photovoltaic System Performance Period. In an interest to recycle and recirculate energy resources, NREL considers the trade-offs of refurbishing, donating, recycling, and other options while suggesting topics to reflect on at different stages of solar system management.

Literature Review and Research Roadmap for Distributed Wind Controls

NREL and Sandia National Laboratories aim to accelerate distributed wind integration through the Microgrids, Infrastructure, Resilience, and Advanced Controls Launchpad (MIRACL), and a first step in that direction has begun with NREL's review of current distributed wind controls and proposals for future research areas to explore. This publication informs future control functions in four use cases: distributed wind in isolated systems, grid-connected microgrids, behind-the-meter distributed wind, and front-of-the-meter distributed wind. These considerations are then applied to the MIRACL project, with suggestions on how to demonstrate controls using national laboratory and partner infrastructure.

Global Impact: Renewable Planning Resources for India, Thailand, and Colombia

In India, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has been providing policy analysis around solar integration. NREL published Quantifying Rooftop Solar Benefits: A State-Level Value of Solar Analysis for India to clarify rooftop solar policy options in two Indian states, Gujarat and Jharkhand, that are striving to integrate rooftop solar in a way that is financially sensible for utilities. NREL conducted a "value of solar analysis" for the states that quantifies costs and benefits of rooftop solar based on the electricity system and local data. The analysis resulted in key findings for each state, which are reported in the publication.

Another USAID-funded report provides insight into renewable planning—this time in Thailand: Key Considerations for Adoption of Technical Codes and Standards for Battery Energy Storage Systems in Thailand. This document draws findings and lessons from power systems around the world to offer advice to Thailand's energy regulatory commission around codes and standards for battery energy storage systems. The guidance published in this report could also be applied to other nations that are interested in developing regulations and relevant standards for battery storage systems.

Published by the World Resources Institute and in support of the Clean Energy Investment Accelerator, the publication Renewable Energy Procurement Guidebook for Colombia delivers an overview of the renewable energy procurement options available to commercial and industrial buyers in Colombia.