FORCE Development Status Update: Vertical Integration and Benchmarking of System Dynamics

Abstract

Recent efforts to establish effective models for grid energy analysis, especially given the increase in variable renewable energy (VRE) sources and the economic challenges faced by traditional nuclear energy, have generated new technological considerations. One effort to improve the economic viability of nuclear power involves investigating integrated energy systems (IES) which include secondary energy systems that introduce flexibility and secondary market possibilities to existing and perceived future nuclear energy generation technologies. To analyze the technical and economic potential of IES, the Framework for Optimization of Resources and Economics (FORCE) tool suite was developed through a collaboration among national laboratories. Within the FORCE tool suite, the Holistic Energy Resource Optimization Network (HERON) provides algorithms for analyzing the long-term viability of potential IES technologies, while HYBRID provides algorithms and models to achieve high-resolution analysis of coupling physics over a short time period. Continued maturing of the FORCE tool suite requires further interconnections between the various tools in the suite in order to ensure consistent analysis. Analyses performed by applying HYBRID to transient process modeling should be easily harvestable as inputs to HERON analyses. The first item in this status update is a demonstration of an automated data pipeline for loading data from HYBRID into HERON analyses. Application of HYBRID results to HERON, as part of using the FORCE tool suite, relies on robust modeling assumptions for the various models included in HYBRID. The second result of this status update is the benchmarking and validation of cost and operational data, with a particular focus on natural gas energy generators. These generators are benchmarked with a focus on contrasting them with proposed thermal energy storage (TES) technologies.