“Los Alamos scientists will support grid design and analysis for resilience, control theory, and modeling extreme events and their consequences,” said Alan Bishop, principal associate director for Science, Technology and Engineering at Los Alamos.

He added: “These are fields in which Los Alamos has proven expertise and in-depth modeling tools to address these complex questions. Critical infrastructure analysis and in-depth emergency planning to protect the nation and its physical and economic security are part of our laboratory mission.”

An electric grid must deliver reliable, affordable, and clean electricity to consumers where and when they want it. Achieving this will require connecting clean energy sources to the grid in a distributed network that enables consumer choice, increased efficiency, and resilience against disruptions because of natural disaster or attack.

During a recent visit to a utility control center in Miami, Florida, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz announced the release of DOE’s comprehensive new Grid Modernization Multi-Year Program Plan — a blueprint for modernizing the grid. The Secretary also announced the award of up to $220 million over three years, subject to congressional appropriations, to DOE’s National Laboratories and partners to support critical research and development in advanced storage systems, clean energy integration, standards and test procedures, and a number of other key grid modernization areas.

Additional programs, initiatives, and funding opportunities related to the Grid Modernization Initiative will be announced in the coming days.

“Modernizing the U.S. electrical grid is essential to reducing carbon emissions, creating safeguards against attacks on our infrastructure, and keeping the lights on,” said Secretary Moniz. “Our Quadrennial Energy Review and Quadrennial Technology Review identified needs and opportunities to invest in the grid. This public-private partnership among our National Laboratories, industry, academia, and state and local government agencies will help us further strengthen our ongoing efforts to improve our electrical infrastructure so that it is prepared to respond to the nation’s energy needs for decades to come.”

“The Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium is an important new model for engaging the collective strength of the laboratory system in addressing challenges to our nation’s energy security,” Bishop noted, “Los Alamos looks to strengthen our capabilities through partnering for broader impact, and we are pleased to participate as part of the consortium.”

The Grid Modernization Initiative represents a comprehensive DOE effort to help shape the future of our nation’s grid and solve the challenges of integrating conventional and renewable sources with energy storage and smart buildings, while ensuring that the grid is resilient and secure to withstand growing cyber security and climate challenges.

The announcements fall under the Grid Modernization Initiative’s framework:

• The Grid Modernization Multi-Year Program was developed by DOE in close collaboration with a wide range of key external partners. The program lays out a blueprint for the Department’s research, development, and demonstration agenda to enable a modernized grid, building on concepts and recommendations from DOE’s recently released Quadrennial Energy Review and Quadrennial Technology Review.
• The up to $220 million in research and development funding falls under the Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium. The consortium involves 14 DOE National Laboratories and dozens of industry, academia, and state and local government agency partners across the country. These funds are being awarded in response to a challenge to the National Laboratories to establish a comprehensive grid-related research and development effort to address a range of emerging challenges and opportunities in the nation’s power grid.

Find more information on the Grid Modernization Initiative here.

Los Alamos National Laboratory
www.lanl.gov

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Dylan Borchers

The Ohio State University (OSU) is “beefing up” its environment and energy programs as it works toward creating an interdisciplinary research hub in Columbus, according to a recent Columbus Business First article. OSU is “seeking an engineering professor to staff a tenure-track position in energy storage and conversion,” a position that will be largely focused on electric battery storage. Giorgio Rizzoni, a professor and director for OSU’s Center for Automotive Research, said, while “…we do some research in batteries,” none of the existing faculty are experts in energy storage systems. Director of OSU’s Office of Energy and Environment Kate Bartter said, “…it’s really about not just developing new materials for energy and sustainability but a real focus on accelerating discovery to deployment.” Battery storage is a rapidly growing area of energy research. It is already being used by utilities (see our June 11, 2014 and June 09, 2015 blog posts), and experts say finding ways to economically store power is key to expanding on-site generation for companies (see our August 11, 2015 blog post for more on this). The full article is here.

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Ontario’s IESO plans to use data from this energy storage project to analyze how storage can be used to smooth the power flow from wind and solar systems. A video on how flow batteries work can be viewed by scrolling down here.

Global renewable energy development company, SunEdison, signed a 10-year agreement with Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) this past December to supply 5 MW (or 20-MWh) of battery storage to the province.

The Ontario IESO works at the heart of Ontario’s power system, and is responsible for making sure everyone in the province gets the electricity they need, when they need it. In addition to leveraging the battery’s storage capability, the IESO intends to use data from this energy storage project to analyze how storage can be used to smooth the power flow from wind and solar energy systems, defer expensive system upgrades, and ultimately shape the future of its grid.

This project is SunEdison’s first commercial, large-scale, grid-connected energy storage project, and is one of the first commercial applications of flow batteries in Canada.

“By integrating energy storage into their grid, the Ontario IESO gains access to a powerful new tool that has the potential to transform how it operates the power system,” said Tim Derrick, SunEdison’s GM of Advanced Solutions. “Batteries can be used to reduce grid congestion, smooth out power flow from solar and wind sources, and may help the IESO defer or avoid expensive upgrades to the grid.”

SunEdison is working with flow battery technology leader Imergy to deliver the project. Imergy’s vanadium redox-flow battery technology provides a cost effective and durable way to store energy for hours at a time.

“SunEdison’s energy storage project is one of several projects that will support reliability in Ontario by providing much needed quick response capacity and operational flexibility,” said Bruce Campbell, Ontario IESO’s President and CEO. “We congratulate SunEdison on the success of their proposal and look forward to working with them to implement this project.”

SunEdison plans to start construction of the project during the first half of 2017, with completion targeted for later that year. Operation and maintenance of the battery systems will be performed by SunEdison Services, which provides global asset management, monitoring and reporting services.

DOE Global Energy Storage Database
http://energystorageexchange.org

SunEdison
www.sunedison.com

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