The Future of Electric Power in the United States (2021) / Chapter Skim
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5 Technologies and Tools to Enable a Range of Future Power Systems
5 Technologies and Tools to Enable a Range of Future Power Systems
Pages 164-212
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From page 164... ...
This chapter discusses several clusters of technologies -- for power generation, storage, transmission, and power electronics -- that together comprise the elements of "no-regret" investments for the future grid. Make it-move it-use it has been the governing method to get electricity to the consumers.
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From page 165... ...
Clean generation technologies include advanced photovoltaics (PV) , carbon capture and sequestration and/or large-scale use of CO2, terrestrial, shallow, and deep-water offshore wind, hybrid generation plants, geothermal energy, and the production, storage, distribution, and use of cost-effective carbon-free gaseous and liquid fuels, such as H2 and NH3, highlights of which are included below.
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From page 166... ...
SOURCE: Data from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (2018)
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From page 167... ...
Larger offshore wind turbines in deep water need higher efficiencies and capacity factors for an efficient transfer of energy to the grid. In addition to DC, low-frequency AC (facilitated by power electronics)
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From page 168... ...
. Such virtual resources include commercial buildings, utility-scale PV and wind farms, and coordinated charging for fleets of electric vehicles (Correa-Posada et al., 2017; Dobber et al., 2005; Feng, 2013; Hirth and Ziegenhagen, 2015; Kreikebaum, 2012; Pierpont et al., 2017; Pillai et al., 2011)
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From page 169... ...
Specific chemical energy carriers that have the potential for deployment in a carbon-neutral fashion are described in Box 5.1. Micro-Reactors, Small Modular Reactors, and Nuclear Fusion Many existing nuclear plants continue to operate, often with life extension, supported by state programs designed to keep them operating as well as policies to compensate plants for their zero-carbon generation.
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From page 170... ...
If it could be done at a reasonable cost, using electricity to generate chemical energy carriers could present an attractive option for long-term energy storage for electricity, and a fuel for transportation. Hydrogen Hydrogen is a "clean" energy carrier because when it is combusted in oxygen the only exhaust is water.
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From page 171... ...
A second approach for balancing is energy storage -- to store any excess energy in energy storage devices and convert it back to the grid when it is needed. Energy storage devices range from electrochemical batteries, flow batteries, thermal storage, clean liquid fuels, compressed air energy storage, and gravity-based systems including pumped hydro.
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From page 172... ...
In these and other ways, power electronics is a key enabler of a flexible, affordable, secure, reliable, and resilient grid. Power semiconductor devices based on silicon (Si)
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From page 173... ...
. Another key use of power electronics is to connect a wide variety of distributed energy resources to the grid -- including PV solar, wind, energy storage, fuel cells and microgrids, as well as electrical loads such as electric vehicles, motor drives, data centers, and all electronics loads.
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From page 174... ...
In the future, combining storage with power electronics can provide "synthetic inertia" to help improve system stability. The availability of time of use (TOU)
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From page 175... ...
If the future grid moves in the direction of greater decentralization, with greater use of HVDC, VSC, and related technologies, power electronics will be an important enabler. Technological advances in power electronics are key to enabling many future grid architectures -- for integration of utility-scale renewables at high power levels, moving power over long distances or to shore from offshore wind, networking clusters of AC islands with DC links, connecting a wide variety of DER and clusters of microgrids.
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From page 176... ...
The advances in generation, storage, and power electronics discussed thus far in this section, as well as the explosive growth in AMI and grid-edge sensing and control, necessitate large advances in the underlying communications technologies, as well as data management at a scale that utilities are not accustomed to. Communications technologies evolve at a more rapid pace than the electricity grid, and therefore the capabilities and vulnerabilities as new generations of communication networks are introduced will have to be continually addressed (Ma et al., 2013)
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From page 177... ...
Internet-of-Things Technologies The growth in the number of IoT as well as IoT-enabled devices has provided a new platform for grid operators to facilitate controlling loads in the power grid. The most noteworthy demonstration of load control using IoT devices came during the total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017, when Nest could leverage the popularity of its thermostats to decrease the demand in the path of the eclipse by 700 MW by synchronously reducing air conditioning power usage to help avoid power outages owing to the loss in solar energy generation (S.
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From page 178... ...
. Increasing amounts of power electronics-connected generation present the need for adaptation and redesigning protection systems, particularly for a grid that may not have large rotating generators and could have little stored kinetic en ergy.
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From page 179... ...
With solutions now available for DC-side protection, VSC systems can now also be configured as a multi terminal DC system, allowing controlled power flows and grid support at multiple points of interconnection the AC system (Beerten and Belmans, 2012; P Rodriguez and Rouzbehi, 2017)
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From page 180... ...
The technical, economic, and regulatory issues with technologies that can enable such a paradigm are not fully understood or proven. Distributed Energy Resources The main component ubiquitous in an Advanced Grid Management System is a DER, which encompasses distributed generation, storage devices, and controllable loads.
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From page 181... ...
These large loads, including industrial plants and large commercial facilities, often have integrated back-up power generation. This generation is highly modularized, rapidly deployed, and can often provide energy at a price point where arbitrage is feasible -- allowing the use of this generation resource to reduce energy costs and demand charges and to provide frequency support to the grid (Kelly et al., 2016; Yu et al., 2016)
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From page 182... ...
Finding 5.6: As the distribution system evolves to include a higher percentage of distributed energy resources including PV, energy storage, distributed generation, and flexible loads, existing DMS are being challenged. The complexity and costs associated with coordinating a very large number of generation assets and flexible loads that are not owned or controlled by the local utility, is a source of concern, particularly under current operating paradigms.
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From page 183... ...
. An illustration of a smart grid composed of integrated microgrids is illustrated in Figure 5.3.
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Isolated microgrid Wind farm Generators Central power Energy from small generators and solar panels can reduce plant Industrial overall demand on the grid. plant FIGURE 5.3 A depiction of a smart grid composed of integrated microgrids that could operate with smart appliances, storage, and additional advanced grid technologies.
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From page 185... ...
that measure precise phase angle differences between two remote points on the bulk power system are used, but are susceptible to channel losses and latencies. As the grid edge becomes more advanced, technological advances are needed to address these inadequacies and ensure better data collection.
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Advanced surge suppressors that can protect semiconductors from lightning surges and system faults will accelerate deployment of grid-connected power electronics at the medium voltage level (Khan Khadem et al., 2010)
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From page 187... ...
Such an approach can ensure utilities of safety and controllability, while unleashing innovation downstream of the PCC, and allowing microgrids to achieve their potential of supporting the grid and providing resiliency at the grid edge. Electricity Markets to Include DER As noted in Chapter 3, as the adoption of DER begin to increase, distribution systems will need to contend with significant changes in power flows.
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From page 188... ...
Direct load control (DLC) has been used for many years by utilities across the country for peak shaving and load-shifting, through thermostatically controlled loads, plug-in electric vehicles, and data-center servers.
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From page 189... ...
secure, reliable, private, and fast communication; and (2) security, safety, accuracy, privacy, and speed in com putation, so as to incentivize various asset owners to participate in a retail market structure that allows distributed energy resources (DER)
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From page 190... ...
The possibility that a future grid may be composed of hundreds of millions of generators, control devices, and loads -- all of which must be automatically coordinated at all times and at all locations while ensuring a range of grid services including reliability and affordability during normal operation, and resilience and fast recovery under stressed conditions -- presents a formidable challenge for reliable grid operations (Favre-Perrod et al., 2019)
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From page 191... ...
A future ultra-distributed scenario would require the deployment of sensors, actuators, and communication devices to be employed en masse, at generators, at substations, in renewable energy sites, in power-electronic devices, in storage devices and electric vehicles, and in microgrids, buildings, and homes. While a power grid with such an ultra-automation may be a highly idealized concept, a concerted effort in developing technologies in this direction can lead to the necessary building blocks for the future "grid as an ecosystem," where millions of
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From page 192... ...
, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) , other domestic and international research organizations, universities, and worldwide industry should support the development of new suites of technologies that can enable the high levels of automation needed in a future grid.
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From page 193... ...
Many different simulation tools are commercially available, and engineers must choose the appropriate tool to study one particular behavior for one portion of the power system, such as the electromechanical behavior after a short circuit on the generation-transmission portion of a grid, which can be studied using a transient stability program. The study of the voltage control of a distribution system, however, requires a completely different set of software applications.
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From page 194... ...
Recommendation 5.5: The Department of Energy (DOE) should support a sustained collaboration of national laboratories, academia, utilities, and vendors to develop a family of intercompatible simulation tools that have common standard interfaces to work together to assess the performance of the present grids and better anticipate the implications of the various ways the grid architectures may evolve in the future.
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From page 195... ...
Recommendation 5.7: As more capable and intercompatible simulation tools become available, system planners and operators should use the results and insights that are gained to develop better grid archi tectures, plans, and operational procedures; they should also inform regulators and policy makers, such as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC)
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From page 196... ...
CREATING THE WORKFORCE TO DESIGN, MANAGE, AND OPERATE THE FUTURE POWER SYSTEM These transformative technological changes to the grid, in conjunction with an existing aging workforce and the need to ensure the industry has access to a workforce that can ensure safe and efficient operation of the electric system, pose challenges in terms of workforce education, training and development. Workforce needs include educating a new generation of managers, designers, and operators, including people with training on both OT and IT elements of the grid (including cybersecurity)
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From page 197... ...
Recommendation 5.9: Congress should provide funding for the Department of Labor, Department of Education, and Department of Energy (DOE) to build on previous experiences in funding workforce training programs (e.g., 2009 Recovery Act Workforce Development, Grid Engineering for Accelerated Renewable Energy Deployment [GEARED]
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From page 198... ...
Additionally, within the vendor community there is often an organizational separation between the individuals who design and build the substation and operational systems architecture, and those who design the ICT architecture and implement the communications systems that will operate the equipment. With the sharp increase in the use of power electronics all across the power system, there is also a critical need for workers who are trained in power electronics systems as well as in generation, distribution, microgrids, storage, and/or EVs.
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From page 199... ...
. Accompanying clean generation and storage are advanced power electronics and communications technologies facilitating advanced grid management systems and ultra-coordination, automation, and control.
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From page 200... ...
2019. "Island Interconnection Device -- Enabling a Simplified Approach to Integrate Microgrids with the Grid." 2019 IEEE 10th International Symposium on Power Electronics for Distributed Generation Systems (PEDG)
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From page 201... ...
2018. "Stability Analysis of Multiple Grid-Connected Inverters Using Different Feed back Currents." In 2018 9th IEEE International Symposium on Power Electronics for Distributed Generation Systems (PEDG)
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IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid 7(2)
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From page 203... ...
2011a. "Estimating the Costs and Benefits of the Smart Grid: A Preliminary Estimate of the Investment Requirements and the Resultant Benefits of a Fully Functioning Smart Grid." https://www.smartgrid.
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IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics 24(3)
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2017. Power semiconductor devices for smart grid and renewable energy systems.
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2013. Evolving and emerging applications of power electronics in systems.
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IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics 29(5)
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n.d. "Power Electronics and Electromagnetism, Adaptive and Machinery Controls, and Advanced Machin ery Systems." https://www.onr.navy.mil/en/Science-Technology/Departments/Code-33/All-Programs/331-advanced naval-platforms/power-electronics-and-electromagnetism.
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From page 209... ...
2015. "Chapter 2 -- Energy Sources." In Alternative Energy in Power Electronics, edited by M.H.
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From page 210... ...
2010. "Enabled by High Power Electronics -- Energy Efficiency, Renewables, and Smart Grids." In 2010 Inter national Power Electronics Conference -- ECCE ASIA, Sapporo, 11–15.
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From page 211... ...
IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid 7(5)
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From page 212... ...
IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics 33(7)
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