Transforming our Nation’s Energy System

With all the benefits associated with renewable energy, why hasn’t the grid already been modernized to accommodate these clean sources of energy? The short answer is: Megawatt-scale integration is hard to find.

Our nation’s existing power grid is crucial to our way of life and cannot be shut down, overhauled, and started back up again. Yet, critical to moving clean energy technologies onto the electrical grid is the ability to carry out research, development, and megawatt-scale testing of the complex integrated systems, devices, and concepts of future electric supply and demand systems.

The Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) on the campus of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, will soon be the nation’s first facility that can conduct integrated megawatt-scale research and development of the components and strategies needed in order to safely move clean energy technologies onto the electrical grid “in-flight” at the speed and scale required to meet national goals.

A Unique Partnering Facility
This state-of-the-art facility will enable NREL and industry to work together to develop and evaluate their individual technologies on a controlled integrated energy system platform. Testing and optimization at megawatt scale will help reduce risks associated with early market penetration. Participation from utilities, equipment manufacturers, renewable systems integrators, universities, and other national labs and related industries that fully utilize ESIF’s capabilities will dramatically accelerate the research required to transform the energy system to one that is cleaner, more secure, and more reliable. Major electric system manufacturers and companies have already demonstrated interest in conducting their own research and development at the ESIF, once the facility is completed.

Energy Integration Research Focus
Research and development conducted in the ESIF will aim to overcome the challenges of integrating renewable energy into the electrical grid. These application and technology challenges span the entire electric power system — from generation to transmission, to distribution, and to end-use applications. Of particular focus are electric systems, buildings and facility systems, community power generation and microgrids, utility generation, thermal and hydrogen systems, energy efficient and advanced grid technologies, electricity system architectures, interoperability, and utility generation and grids that incorporate renewable energy (solar, wind, hydrogen, and advanced vehicles). Source http://www.nrel.gov

Labs and Equipment
To support these areas of research, the 182,500-sq. ft. ESIF will house approximately 200 scientists and engineers and a wide range of fully equipped, state-of-the-art laboratories and outdoor test areas, including:

Laboratories
• Power Systems Integration
• Smart Power
• Energy Storage • Electrical Characterization
• Energy Systems Integration
• Thermal Storage Process & Components
• Thermal Storage Materials
• Optical Characterization Lab
• Energy Systems Fabrication
• Manufacturing
• Materials Characterization
• Electrochemical Characterization
• Energy Systems Sensor
• Fuel Cell Development and Test
• Energy Systems High Pressure Test
Outdoor test areas
• 13.2 kV – medium voltage
• 480 V – low voltage
• Rooftop test area
• Energy Storage

In addition, the ESIF will include other key service and support features, such as:
• Research Electrical Distribution Bus (REDB)
• High Performance Computing Data Center (HPCDC)
• Hardware-in-the-Loop Prototyping at Megawatt-scale Power
• Collaboration and Visualization Rooms
• High Bay Control Room

Uniquely Tied Together
Integrated throughout the ESIF, the Research Electrical Distribution Bus (REDB) will function as the ultimate power integration “circuit” capable of utilizing multiple AC and DC buses that connect multiple sources of energy and interconnecting laboratories and experiments to test and simulate equipment. Running parallel with the REDB is a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system that monitors and controls facility-based processes and gathers and disseminates real time data for collaboration and visualization. Parallel with the REDB are the thermal and fuel infrastructures built into the ESIF that all together provide a variety of electricity, thermal power, and fuel type connections.

Hardware-in-the-Loop at Power
Hardware-in-the-loop simulation is not a new concept, but adding megawatt-scale power takes research to another level. Equipped with hardware-in-the loop simulators, the ESIF’s Smart Power Lab is the test lab for research and development of the power electronics components, circuits, and controls used in clean and sustainable energy integration. It will allow researchers and manufacturers to conduct integration tests at full power and actual load levels in real-time simulation, and evaluate component and system performance before going to market.

High Performance Computing Capabilities
In addition to high-tech collaboration and visualization rooms, the ESIF will include a high-performance computing data center (HPCDC) that will serve the breadth of NREL, expanding the laboratory’s capabilities in modeling and simulation of renewable energy technologies and their integration into the existingenergy infrastructure. The one-half petaflop scale (planned to be expanded to petaflop scale) will enable large-scale modeling and simulation of material properties, processes and fully integrated systems that would be too expensive, or even impossible, to study by direct experimentation. Not only will the HPCDC house the fastest computing system dedicated to energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies in the world, it will also be one of the most energy efficient data centers in the world, operating at a power usage effectiveness (PUE) rating of 1.06 or better.

Walking the Talk
The Energy Systems Integration Facility will not only meet the nation’s crucial research objectives for integrating clean and sustainable energy technologies into the grid, but will do it in a way that is safe, efficient, and respectful to its surrounding environment. The ESIF will be built in accordance with the U.S. Green Buildings Council’s standards and is expected, at minimum, to achieve LEED Gold Certification.

Energy Conservation Strategies
• Reuse of data center and High Bay laboratory waste energy to maximize building/campus heating
• Transfer of electrical energy (via REDB) from experiments between laboratories for simultaneous use/reuse
• Underfloor air distribution for interior cooling and ventilation;
outside air economizer
• Active radiant beams provide for perimeter cooling and heating • Evaporative-based central cooling meets ASHRAE 55 thermal
comfort range
• Natural ventilation mode with operable windows and ventilation shafts
• Daylighting with high efficiency lighting (lights off 10 AM to 2 PM)
• Energy Star rated equipment

ESIF Snapshot
• Cost: $135M
• Square feet: 182,500
• Occupants: ~200
• High performance computer: one-half petaflop scale; planned to be expanded to petaflop
• State-of-the-art electric systems simulation and visualization
• Component and systems testing at MW-scale power
• Integration of functioning systems with utility system simulations for real-time, real-power evaluation of high penetration scenarios

Administration Announces Grid Modernization Initiatives to Foster a Clean Energy Economy and Spur Innovation

The Obama Administration on June 13th announced a number of new initiatives designed to accelerate the modernization of the Nation’s electric infrastructure, bolster electric-grid innovation, and advance a clean energy economy.

Aimed at building the necessary transmission infrastructure and developing and deploying digital information or “smart grid” technologies, these initiatives will facilitate the integration of renewable sources of electricity into the grid; accommodate a growing number of electric vehicles on America’s roads; help avoid blackouts and restore power quicker when outages occur; and reduce the need for new power plants.

The White House also released a new report by the Cabinet-level National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) that delineates four overarching goals the Administration will pursue in order to ensure that all Americans benefit from investments in the Nation’s electric infrastructure: better alignment of economic incentives to boost development and deployment of smart-grid technologies; a greater focus on standards and interoperability to enable greater innovation; empowerment of consumers with enhanced information to save energy, ensure privacy, and shrink bills; and improved grid security and resilience.

“A 21st century grid is essential to America’s ability to lead the world in clean energy and win the future,” said John P. Holdren, President Obama’s science and technology advisor and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, which released the NSTC report: A Policy Framework for the 21st Century Grid. “By unlocking the potential of innovation in the electric grid, we are allowing consumers and businesses to use energy more efficiently even as we help utilities provide cleaner energy and more reliable service.”

Holdren was among several high-level Administration officials who described the new initiatives and report at a White House event that also featured private-sector leaders and other innovators from across the Nation.

“America cannot build a 21st century economy with a 20th century electricity system. By working with states, industry leaders, and the private sector, we can build a clean, smart, national electricity system that will create jobs, reduce energy use, and expand renewable energy production,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

Smart grid technologies provide a foundation for innovation by entrepreneurs and others who can develop tools to empower consumers and help them make informed decisions. A first generation of innovative consumer products and services—such as thermostats that can be controlled from a smart phone, or websites that show how much energy a house is using—are already helping Americans save money on their electricity bills, and there is great potential to do even more. Similarly, the adoption of distributed energy generation sources (such as solar panels on rooftops), emerging energy storage technologies, and electric vehicles are all spurring changes in how and when energy is being used by businesses and consumers.

“This is one more step in our effort to modernize rural America’s electric grid,” said Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. “Smart grid technologies give consumers greater control over their electric costs and help utilities efficiently manage power generation and delivery.”

Among the public- and private-sector initiatives announced today:

• $250 million in loans for smart-grid technology deployment as part of the US Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utility Service, which is focused on upgrading the electric grid in rural America.

• The launch of Grid 21, a private sector initiative to promote consumer-friendly innovations while ensuring proper privacy safeguards and consumer protections. Grid 21 will help consumers get better access to their own energy usage information so that they can take advantage of new tools and services to manage their energy use and save on their utility bills.

• New commitments by the Department of Energy to focus on improving consumer access to their own energy information, including the development of a crowd-sourced map to track progress, a data-driven competition designed to harness the imagination and enthusiasm of America’s students to encourage home energy efficiency, and new EIA efforts to measure progress. o Consumers deserve access to their own energy usage information in consumer-friendly and computer-friendly formats. The Administration is committed toworking with States and stakeholders to ensure all Americans can take advantage of new tools and services to manage their energy use and save on their utility bills. With proper privacy safeguards and consumer protections, a smarter electricity system can benefit all consumers.

• Expanded partnerships to continue working with States and stakeholders, including an initiative to share lessons learned from Recovery Act smart grid investments, a series of regional peer-to-peer stakeholder meetings, and updated online resources available at: www.SmartGrid.gov.

• The formation of a Renewable Energy Rapid Response Team, co-led by the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Energy, to improve Federal coordination and ensure timely review of proposed renewable energy projects and transmission lines, to ensure that renewable energy can power cities and towns across America, and to increase reliability and save consumers money by modernizing the grid.

These efforts build upon the historic $4.5 billion in grid modernization investments provided for in the Recovery Act—matched by contributions of more than $5.5 billion from the private sector—to modernize America’s aging energy infrastructure and provide cleaner and more reliable power.
“Modernizing our Nation’s electric grid plays a critical role in advancing America’s clean energy economy,” said Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. “These next steps will help us transition toward the economy of the future and provide a boon for domestic job growth.”

Even in today’s information age, many utilities don’t have real-time information about the state of the grid or know when their customers have lost power. A modernized electric grid can bridge these lingering information gaps while serving as a platform for innovation and helping to create jobs of the future. To secure our clean energy future, the Administration will continue to invest in transformational technologies and remove barriers for entrepreneurs to bring those technologies to market.
A detailed fact sheet and the NSTC report are available at www.whitehouse.gov/ostp (source www.whitehouse.gov)

North American SynchroPhasor Initiative

The mission of the North American SynchroPhasor Initiative is to improve power system reliability and visibility through wide area measurement and control.

Synchrophasors are precise grid measurements now available from monitors called phasor measurement units (PMUs). PMU measurements are taken at high speed (typically 30 observations per second – compared to one every 4 seconds using conventional technology). Each measurement is time-stamped according to a common time reference. Time stamping allows synchrophasors from different utilities to be time-aligned (or “synchronized”) and combined together providing a precise and comprehensive view of the entire interconnection. Synchrophasors enable a better indication of grid stress, and can be used to trigger corrective actions to maintain reliability.

The NASPI community is working to advance the deployment and use of networked phasor measurement devices, phasor data-sharing, applications development and use, and research and analysis. Important applications today include wide-area monitoring, real-time operations, power system planning, and forensic analysis of grid disturbances. Phasor technology is expected to offer great benefit for integrating renewable and intermittent resources, automated controls for transmission and demand response, increasing transmission system throughput, and improving system modeling and planning.

NASPI is a collaborative effort between the U.S. Department of Energy, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, and North American electric utilities, vendors, consultants, federal and private researchers and academics. NASPI activities are funded by DOE and NERC, and by the voluntary efforts of many industry members and experts. (source www.naspi.org)

Lockheed Martin and Itron Provide Demand Response-Ready Smart Grid Solution for Utilities

TAMPA, Fla. — Lockheed Martin and Itron, Inc. today announced an agreement to integrate Lockheed Martin’s SEEload Demand Response Management Solution with Itron’s smart grid platform. The integrated solution, which includes the OpenWay smart metering and Itron Enterprise Edition Meter Data Management (IEE MDM) systems, will reduce the cost, complexity and risk for utilities deploying smart meters and implementing demand response (DR) programs.

The offering leverages Itron’s global leadership in smart metering and enterprise utility software solutions and Lockheed Martin’s world-class capabilities in security, command and control and systems-of-systems integration. Both contribute technically-proven, market-ready products prepared for integration.

“The pre-integration and testing of Itron’s MDM platform with our demand response management technology will allow utilities to reduce technical risk and scheduling risk, while simplifying the deployment of DR programs,” said John Mengucci, president of Lockheed Martin’s Information Systems & Global Services-Defense. “Further, integration to OpenWay standard demand response interfaces will make it easier and quicker for utilities to deploy advanced energy management services to their customers, and will help maintain grid stability.”

“Fostering the smart grid requires unprecedented collaboration,” said Philip Mezey, Itron North America’s vice president and chief operating officer. “If there’s one thing that 30+ years of experience driving innovation for utilities has taught Itron, it’s that our complex industry is bigger than any one company. The importance of combining the complementary expertise of Itron and Lockheed Martin cannot be overstated.”

SEEload is one of Lockheed Martin’s SEEsuite Smart Grid Command and Control applications, and enables utilities and independent system operators to precisely and easily manage demand response events across an entire distribution network, including substations and individual feeders. SEEload provides complete DR life- cycle management, including DR program definition and customer enrollment, real-time DR event management, and post-event DR analytics.

OpenWay empowers customers to participate in energy management and conservation by providing a two-way network between the utility and each premise it serves. IEE MDM then brokers the communication between the OpenWay field communications architecture and utility back-office systems, providing an enterprise repository for managing the data generated by smart metering.

Itron is the world’s leading provider of intelligent metering, data collection and utility software solutions, with nearly 8,000 utilities worldwide relying on our technology to optimize the delivery and use of energy and water. Itron offerings include electricity, gas, water and heat meters, data collection and communication systems, including automated meter reading (AMR) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI); meter data management and related software applications; as well as project management, installation and consulting services.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 140,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation reported 2009 sales of $45.2 billion.
(source www.lockheedmartin.com)

Technology, analysis can better meet America’s energy needs

President Barack Obama has called for one million plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) to hit the road by 2015. If the demand for PHEVs skyrockets, a flood of new electric cars could strain America’s power networks to the limit.

That is why the U.S. Department of Energy is analyzing how the power grid can be redesigned to better meet America’s energy needs. A multidisciplinary mix of scientists from Argonne National Laboratory is working to help develop a “smart grid” that will not only adapt in real-time to handle larger electricity loads, but also operate more cheaply and efficiently than the existing grid.

“The smart grid proposes to reorganize the way power is used in the home and how it is distributed,” said Ted Bohn, an electrical engineer at Argonne’s Center for Transportation Research.

In the home, electric vehicles and all major appliances would be connected to a central hub that monitors how much electricity they use. The hub in turn would “talk” to local power suppliers. All of these appliances and the grid would talk to each other and could also share power.

Today manufacturers are meeting to agree on a standard plug for the home hub, cars and appliances. But it turns out that American manufacturers already agreed on a standardized electric vehicle plug—in 1913! In the early days of cars, electric vehicles seemed a likely competitor for gasoline-powered engines and 30,000 were on the road; thus, the plug seen here—complete with wooden handle.

The communication between vehicles, appliances and the grid allows suppliers to track electricity use in real-time. With that information, more utilities could vary the price of power by time of day and create incentives for consumers to use electricity at certain times. If power suppliers are overwhelmed during peak demand, consumers will receive a high price signal that will encourage them to reduce their consumption until the situation eases.

“Say you’re running the air conditioning and charging your car battery at the same time during a hot afternoon,” Bohn said. “With a smart-grid infrastructure, your AC and battery charger will automatically dial down their consumption, and then run it back up again when prices are lower.”

The smart grid offers more choice to consumers by letting them micro-manage their energy bills. A consumer concerned about price could set a dishwasher to run when power is cheapest, usually at night, when demand is lowest. Environmentally conscious consumers could also choose to pay a clean energy premium for solar and wind power and thereby promote the use of these renewable energy sources.

“The smart grid doesn’t propose to revolutionize the way we do power,” Bohn said. “It’s just about doing the same things more efficiently—smarter.”

Les Poch and Matt Mahalik of Argonne’s Center for Energy, Environmental, and Economic Systems Analysis (CEEESA) are concerned with the demand on the existing grid as more and more electric vehicles hit the road. Poch and Mahalik model the potential strain on the grid if millions of new electric vehicles were to plug in every night.

“Depending on what Americans do with their new cars, energy suppliers could be overwhelmed—or they could stand to gain a lot,” Poch said.

Electricity suppliers closely monitor regional demand. To prevent shortages, they must predict how much electricity will be needed at any given time. “Until now, the pattern of power use in the U.S. has been relatively stable and predictable for the past 30 years,” said Mahalik. “The last major bump was probably the widespread adoption of air conditioning.”

Now, electric vehicles stand poised to throw off that stable pattern. No one knows how quickly electric cars will catch on, in what areas they’ll be most popular, or when everyone will choose to plug in their cars.

Today’s electricity demand follows well defined cycles. It increases during the daytime when commuters head to work, as homes and offices turn up the air conditioning and factories power up the machinery, and falls sharply during nighttime.

Utilities must prepare for that afternoon peak. “The way we build power plants now is to make sure we have enough to meet the highest demand possible—the maximum amount of power on the afternoon of the hottest day of the year,” said Vladimir Koritarov, deputy director of CEEESA. “Then they add some more for backup in an emergency. The rest of the year we won’t need nearly so much power, but we have to be prepared for that one day.”

For this reason, utilities must maintain a large reserve capacity that is unused for the majority of the year. Koritarov thinks that with the right approach, the smart grid could work out to everyone’s advantage.

By using incentives to smooth out demand for electricity between day and night, a utility can produce power more economically. Also, smart charging of electric and hybrid vehicles during the off-peak periods can significantly help with that goal by filling up “demand valleys.”

A significant stumbling block for power distribution is the lack of technology to store power for extended periods. Stockpiled power from variable resources, such as solar and wind, could be fed back into the grid at peak times to reduce the strain on the grid and conventional power plants. A team of Argonne materials scientists, chemists and engineers – already renowned for their successes in the field of advanced battery development for vehicles – is working to develop large-scale energy storage technologies that will capture energy whenever it’s available and store it for use at a later time.

“The smart grid isn’t a theoretical concept,” said Bohn. “It’s happening now.” Across the country, aspects of the smart grid are being tested in homes and neighborhoods. As America moves forward, science and Argonne work to improve the future—for households, businesses and utilities alike.

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America ‘s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. (source www.anl.gov)

(Download a fact sheet on the smart grid.)

Watch a demonstration of the smart Grid