Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Electricity Network Integration”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2012

Automated Grid Disruption Response System: Robust Adaptive Topology Control (RATC)

GENI Project: The RATC research team is using topology control as a mechanism to improve system operations and manage disruptions within the electric grid. The grid is subject to interruption from cascading faults caused by extreme operating conditions, malicious external attacks, and intermittent electricity generation from renewable energy sources. The RATC system is capable of detecting, classifying, and responding to grid disturbances by reconfiguring the grid in order to maintain economically efficient operations while guaranteeing reliability. The RATC system would help prevent future power outages, which account for roughly $80 billion in losses for businesses and consumers each year. Minimizing the time it takes for the grid to respond to expensive interruptions will also make it easier to integrate intermittent renewable energy sources into the grid.

ARPA-E↗
DOE OSTI2012

Power Flow Controller for Renewables: Transformer-less Unified Power Flow Controller for Wind and Solar Power Transmission

GENI Project: MSU is developing a power flow controller to improve the routing of electricity from renewable sources through existing power lines. The fast, innovative, and lightweight circuitry that MSU is incorporating into its controller will eliminate the need for a separate heavy and expensive transformer, as well as the construction of new transmission lines. MSU’s controller is better suited to control power flows from distributed and intermittent wind and solar power systems than traditional transformer-based controllers are, so it will help to integrate more renewable energy into the grid. MSU‘s power flow controller can be installed anywhere in the existing grid to optimize energy transmission and help reduce transmission congestion.

ARPA-E↗
DOE OSTI2017

Energy Systems Integration: Demonstrating Distributed Resource Communications

Overview fact sheet about the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and Schneider Electric Integrated Network Testbed for Energy Grid Research and Technology Experimentation (INTEGRATE) project at the Energy Systems Integration Facility. INTEGRATE is part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Grid Modernization Initiative.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2012

Scalable Distributed Automation System: Scalable Real-time Decentralized Volt/VAR Control

GENI Project: Caltech is developing a distributed automation system that allows distributed generators—solar panels, wind farms, thermal co-generation systems—to effectively manage their own power. To date, the main stumbling block for distributed automation systems has been the inability to develop software that can handle more than 100,000 distributed generators and be implemented in real time. Caltech’s software could allow millions of generators to self-manage through local sensing, computation, and communication. Taken together, localized algorithms can support certain global objectives, such as maintaining the balance of energy supply and demand, regulating voltage and frequency, and minimizing cost. An automated, grid-wide power control system would ease the integration of renewable energy sources like solar power into the grid by quickly transmitting power when it is created, eliminating the energy loss associated with the lack of renewable energy storage capacity of the grid.

ARPA-E↗
DOE OSTI2012

Renewable Energy Positioning System: Energy Positioning: Control and Economics

GENI Project: The University of Washington and the University of Michigan are developing an integrated system to match well-positioned energy storage facilities with precise control technologies so the electric grid can more easily include energy from renewable power sources like wind and solar. Because renewable energy sources provide intermittent power, it is difficult for the grid to efficiently allocate those resources without developing solutions to store their energy for later use. The two universities are working with utilities, regulators, and the private sector to position renewable energy storage facilities in locations that optimize their ability to provide and transmit electricity where and when it is needed most. Expanding the network of transmission lines is prohibitively expensive, so combining well-placed storage facilities with robust control systems to efficiently route their power will save consumers money and enable the widespread use of safe, renewable sources of power.

ARPA-E↗
DOE OSTI2012

Decision-Support Software for Grid Operators: Transmission Topology Control for Infrastructure Resilience to the Integration of Renewable Generation

GENI Project: The CRA team is developing control technology to help grid operators more actively manage power flows and integrate renewables by optimally turning on and off entire power lines in coordination with traditional control of generation and load resources. The control technology being developed would provide grid operators with tools to help manage transmission congestion by identifying the facilities whose on/off status must change to lower generation costs, increase utilization of renewable resources and improve system reliability. The technology is based on fast optimization algorithms for the near to real-time change in the on/off status of transmission facilities and their software implementation.

ARPA-E↗
DOE OSTI2012

Integration of Renewables Via Demand Management: Highly Dispatchable and Distributed Demand Response for the Integration of Distributed Generation

GENI Project: AutoGrid, in conjunction with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Columbia University, will design and demonstrate automated control software that helps manage real-time demand for energy across the electric grid. Known as the Demand Response Optimization and Management System - Real-Time (DROMS-RT), the software will enable personalized price signal to be sent to millions of customers in extremely short timeframes—incentivizing them to alter their electricity use in response to grid conditions. This will help grid operators better manage unpredictable demand and supply fluctuations in short time-scales —making the power generation process more efficient and cost effective for both suppliers and consumers. DROMS-RT is expected to provide a 90% reduction in the cost of operating demand response and dynamic pricing Projects in the U.S.

ARPA-E↗
DOE OSTI2012

Cloud Computing for the Grid: GridControl: A Software Platform to Support the Smart Grid

GENI Project: Cornell University is creating a new software platform for grid operators called GridControl that will utilize cloud computing to more efficiently control the grid. In a cloud computing system, there are minimal hardware and software demands on users. The user can tap into a network of computers that is housed elsewhere (the cloud) and the network runs computer applications for the user. The user only needs interface software to access all of the cloud’s data resources, which can be as simple as a web browser. Cloud computing can reduce costs, facilitate innovation through sharing, empower users, and improve the overall reliability of a dispersed system. Cornell’s GridControl will focus on 4 elements: delivering the state of the grid to users quickly and reliably; building networked, scalable grid-control software; tailoring services to emerging smart grid uses; and simulating smart grid behavior under various conditions.

ARPA-E↗
DOE OSTI2012

Connecting Renewables Directly to the Grid: Resilient Multi-Terminal HVDC Networks with High-Voltage High-Frequency Electronics

GENI Project: GE is developing electricity transmission hardware that could connect distributed renewable energy sources, like wind farms, directly to the grid—eliminating the need to feed the energy generated through intermediate power conversion stations before they enter the grid. GE is using the advanced semiconductor material silicon carbide (SiC) to conduct electricity through its transmission hardware because SiC can operate at higher voltage levels than semiconductors made out of other materials. This high-voltage capability is important because electricity must be converted to high-voltage levels before it can be sent along the grid’s network of transmission lines. Power companies do this because less electricity is lost along the lines when the voltage is high.

ARPA-E↗
DOE OSTI2012

Cost-Effective Cable Insulation: Nanoclay Reinforced Ethylene-Propylene-Rubber for Low-Cost HVDC Cabling

GENI Project: GE is developing new, low-cost insulation for high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electricity transmission cables. The current material used to insulate HVDC transmission cables is very expensive and can account for as much as 1/3 of the total cost of a high-voltage transmission system. GE is embedding nanomaterials into specialty rubber to create its insulation. Not only are these materials less expensive than those used in conventional HVDC insulation, but also they will help suppress excess charge accumulation. The excess charge left behind on a cable poses a major challenge for high-voltage insulation—if it’s not kept to a low level, it could ultimately lead the insulation to fail. GE’s low-cost insulation is compatible with existing U.S. cable manufacturing processes, further enhancing its cost effectiveness.

ARPA-E↗
DOE OSTI2012

Distributed Power Flow Control: Distributed Power Flow Control using Smart Wires for Energy Routing

GENI Project: Smart Wire Grid is developing a solution for controlling power flow within the electric grid to better manage unused and overall transmission capacity. The 300,000 miles of high-voltage transmission line in the U.S. today are congested and inefficient, with only around 50% of all transmission capacity utilized at any given time. Increased consumer demand should be met in part with more efficient and an economical power flow. Smart Wire Grid’s devices clamp onto existing transmission lines and control the flow of power within—much like how internet routers help allocate bandwidth throughout the web. Smart wires could support greater use of renewable energy by providing more consistent control over how that energy is routed within the grid on a real-time basis. This would lessen the concerns surrounding the grid’s inability to effectively store intermittent energy from renewables for later use.

ARPA-E↗
DOE OSTI2012

Magnetic Amplifier for Power Flow Control

GENI Project: ORNL is developing an electromagnet-based, amplifier-like device that will allow for complete control over the flow of power within the electric grid. To date, complete control of power flow within the grid has been prohibitively expensive. ORNL’s controller could provide a reliable, cost-effective solution to this problem. The team is combining two types of pre-existing technologies to assist in flow control, culminating in a prototype iron-based magnetic amplifier. Ordinarily, such a device would require expensive superconductive wire, but the magnetic iron core of ORNL’s device could serve as a low-cost alternative that is equally adept at regulating power flow.

ARPA-E↗
DOE OSTI2012

Probability-Based Software for Grid Optimization: Improved Power System Operations Using Advanced Stochastic Optimization

GENI Project: Sandia National Laboratories is working with several commercial and university partners to develop software for market management systems (MMSs) that enable greater use of renewable energy sources throughout the grid. MMSs are used to securely and optimally determine which energy resources should be used to service energy demand across the country. Contributions of electricity to the grid from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar are intermittent, introducing complications for MMSs, which have trouble accommodating the multiple sources of price and supply uncertainties associated with bringing these new types of energy into the grid. Sandia’s software will bring a new, probability-based formulation to account for these uncertainties. By factoring in various probability scenarios for electricity production from renewable energy sources in real time, Sandia’s formula can reduce the risk of inefficient electricity transmission, save ratepayers money, conserve power, and support the future use of renewable energy.

ARPA-E↗
DOE OSTI2017

Trans-oceanic Remote Power Hardware-in-the-Loop: Multi-site Hardware, Integrated Controller, and Electric Network Co-simulation

Electric system operators are increasingly concerned with the potential system-wide impacts of the large-scale integration of distributed energy resources (DERs) including voltage control, protection coordination, and equipment wear. This prompts a need for new simulation techniques that can simultaneously capture all the components of these large integrated smart grid systems. This paper describes a novel platform that combines three emerging research areas: power systems co-simulation, power hardware in the loop (PHIL) simulation, and lab-lab links. The platform is distributed, real-time capable, allows for easy internet-based connection from geographically-dispersed participants, and is software platform agnostic. We demonstrate its utility by studying real-time PHIL co-simulation of coordinated solar PV firming control of two inverters connected in multiple electric distribution network models, prototypical of U.S. and Australian systems. Here, the novel trans-pacific closed-loop system simulation was conducted in real-time using a power network simulator and physical PV/battery inverter at power at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO, USA and a physical PV inverter at power at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation's Energy Centre in Newcastle, NSW, Australia. This capability enables smart grid researchers throughout the world to leverage their unique simulation capabilities for multi-site collaborations that can effectively simulate and validate emerging smart grid technology solutions.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2026

Optimal Co-Design of Integrated Thermal-Electrical Networks and Control Systems for Grid-interactive Efficient District (GED) Energy Systems

This project advances a unified, open-source framework for the optimal co-design of thermal, electrical, and control systems in grid-interactive efficient districts (GEDs). As communities integrate growing levels of distributed energy resources, traditional approaches that model thermal and electrical networks independently lead to reduced efficiency, limited flexibility, and missed opportunities for coordinated operation. To address these challenges, the research team developed a comprehensive suite of physics-based models, control algorithms, and software tools that enable holistic simulation, optimization, and demonstration of district-scale energy systems.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Integrated Models for Electrical Distribution Network Planning and District-Scale Building Energy Use

The increase of greenhouse emissions caused by a rise in global energy consumption is pushing the scientific community to develop tools that address key environmental, techno-economic and social issues. One specific area of focus is to create tools that enable the design of high-performance energy districts, including grid-interactive efficient buildings and electrical distribution infrastructure. This paper outlines the approach of integrating a synthetic distribution network tool (RNM-US) with URBANopt™, a modular and customizable software development kit for thermal and electrical modelling of buildings and energy systems at a district scale. First, we describe the algorithms implemented to integrate RNM-US with URBANopt to automatically generate the distribution network for the district considered. Following, we present a case study for the potential uses of the RNM-US integrations with URBANopt, highlighting the capabilities for economic and technical analysis of the distribution network built in relation to the electricity needs of the modelled buildings.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Modeling Integrated Electricity and Natural Gas Systems Using Co-Simulation

One approach for modeling natural gas and electricity networks as integrated systems is co-simulation, which involves separating a single model into subproblems that are solved iteratively, with coupling information passed between then. Although a fully integrated problem might be more direct, co-simulation offers advantages in that it can sometimes be more computationally tractable, and can also leverage existing simulation tools to represent the subproblems. Here we present a framework for co-simulation of natural gas and electricity networks using the HELICS tool. We provide validation of the co-simulation approach by comparing results with a fully integrated approach that uses the same simulation tool, finding that the two approaches provide identical results for a range of test cases. We then present results from natural gas and electricity network co-simulation case study of the Colorado Front Range, with an evaluation of the present-day system and also a future system with higher shares of renewable power. The presentation will close with a discussion on future avenues of work for co-simulation of gas and power networks.

co-simulation↗
DOE OSTI2014

Integration of V2H/V2G Hybrid System for Demand Response in Distribution Network

Integration of Electrical Vehicles (EVs) with power grid not only brings new challenges for load management, but also opportunities for distributed storage and generation in distribution network. With the introduction of Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) and Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G), EVs can help stabilize the operation of power grid. This paper proposed and implemented a hybrid V2H/V2G system with commercialized EVs, which is able to support both islanded AC/DC load and the power grid with one single platform. Standard industrial communication protocols are implemented for a seamless respond to remote Demand Respond (DR) signals. Simulation and implementation are carried out to validate the proposed design. Simulation and implementation results showed that the hybrid system is capable of support critical islanded DC/AC load and quickly respond to the remote DR signal for V2G within 1.5kW of power range.

Wang, Yubo↗