This quarterly newsletter highlights recent projects, partnerships, and resources from the Global Power System Transformation (G-PST) Consortium.
Coming Together to Focus Our Efforts and Refine Our Goals
In September, we gathered nearly 35 G-PST Consortium leaders in London to take an opportunity to reflect and think critically about where we are now and where we are going. It was evident we have tremendous opportunity in front of us and still much work to be done. Together, we agreed on new, aggressive engineering and dissemination goals to focus our efforts in line with our fundamental mission of rapidly accelerating the clean energy transition. I’m excited to share these goals with you:
- Engineering Goal: Operate a 100% inverter-based resources transmission system by 2025
- Dissemination Goal: Share learnings and technical accomplishments globally to drive step-change in decarbonization of energy systems.
Our strategy session also enabled us to take a hard look at where we are succeeding and where we could be more effective as the G-PST grows. Over the next year, we will be working to ensure even stronger integration among our five G-PST pillars; we will continue building strong partnerships with complementary initiatives so we can build upon each other’s progress; and we will clarify and crystallize what impacts we are measuring as we move forward with new research and projects.
We all walked away from this strategy session inspired by how far G-PST has come in the past two years and motivated to explore how we can push further and reach the next level. If you have any questions about our goals or want to know how you can get more involved, reach out to our team at globalpst@nrel.gov. We are thrilled to have support from so many excellent partners and stakeholders throughout this ambitious journey!
Fintan Slye
Chair of the Founding System Operators of the G-PST Consortium
Executive Director, National Grid Electricity System Operator, U.K.
Featured News
Pillar 1 Research Repository Accepting Project Submissions
Based on a recent survey of G-PST members, the System Operator Research & Peer Learning Pillar is compiling a list of relevant research projects that are addressing questions from the G-PST Research Agenda. This Pillar 1 Research Repository contains general information about each research project as well as the G-PST programs and research agenda questions they address. The repository also spotlights institutions and funders who are contributing to completing this research. This Research Repository is a working document, and more contributions are encouraged. Your contributions help the G-PST Consortium assess relevant and ongoing research so that we can identify gaps in research and find ways to improve and increase collaboration.
All contributors to the repository will be invited to a one-day workshop in London on November 10, 2022. Please reach out to Hannele Holttinen at hannele.holttinen@recognis.fi if you would like to attend the workshop.
Women in Power System Transformation Concludes Inaugural Internship Program
Women in Power System Transformation (PST), a joint initiative from the USAID-NREL Partnership and the G-PST, addresses educational and professional barriers to women’s entry and advancement in power system operation organizations and advances gender diversity, equity, and inclusion across the sector. This summer, the program placed women graduate students at both the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). Graduate interns were engaged across a wide variety of technical workstreams where they gained valuable hands-on skills related to power system transformation, had bi-weekly coffee chats with women professionals and experts in their field, and completed an agency-based empowerment training with the Johns Hopkins University Self-Empowerment and Equity for Change (SEE Change) program. The internships concluded in August 2022 with a virtual poster session where each intern presented on their technical work.
2022 Breakthrough Agenda Report Identifies Key Opportunities to Achieve Paris Agreement Goals
At the 2021 COP26 in Glasgow, 45 countries launched the Breakthrough Agenda – a commitment to work together internationally this decade to accelerate the development and deployment of the clean technologies and sustainable solutions needed to meet Paris Agreement goals. To kick-start this Agenda, countries endorsed Breakthrough goals to make clean technologies and sustainable practices more affordable, accessible, and attractive than their alternatives by 2030 in the power, road, transport, steel, hydrogen, and agriculture sectors.
The G-PST Consortium is highlighted in the report by name as an industry body supporting international collaborative work to increase the share of renewables on the power system. G-PST is directly contributing to the Breakthrough Agenda’s efforts by helping solve technical issues at the system operator level, disseminating lessons learned to scale best practices for decarbonization, and enabling system operators to deliver these accomplishments with confidence in the system reliability, affordability, energy security.
G-PST Consortium Joins Initiative to Promote Renewables in Latin America and the Caribbean
On September 22, 2022, the G-PST Consortium was officially confirmed as a partner agency to an initiative called “Renewables in Latin America and the Caribbean” (RELAC). In accordance with the RELAC by-laws, members countries were consulted on the addition of G-PST as a partner agency and the response was overwhelmingly positive, demonstrating an appreciation from RELAC member countries for G-PST’s work globally and in the region. Through participation in RELAC, G-PST will support RELAC’s objective to accelerating renewable energy deployment across Latin America and the Caribbean by sharing knowledge and expertise from our system operator network through communities of practice and other platforms.
Participate in the LF Energy 2022 Transformation Readiness Study
LF Energy, in collaboration with Linux Foundation Research, LF Training and Certification, and partners of the G-PST Consortium, RWTH Aachen, and Zpryme, are conducting research into how to accelerate collaboration among generation owners, distributors, transmission operators, and retailers in support of decarbonization and the energy transition. In order to ensure the research is as accurate and comprehensive as possible, a strong number of responses to this survey is needed. All energy stakeholders, including utilities, traditional suppliers, original equipment manufacturers, government agencies and standards bodies, the energy, technological, venture capital industries, non-governmental organizations, and industry communities, are invited to participate. Please take the time to complete the survey to share your experience and help determine the most important priorities moving forward. A training discount will be offered to survey participants, valid through the end of the year for 25% off any training and certification product offered by The Linux Foundation. Learn more details about the survey.
G-PST Consortium Hosts Official Side Event at the Global Clean Energy Action Forum
The G-PST Consortium hosted an official side event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on September 22, 2022, at the first-ever Global Clean Energy Action Forum (GCEAF), a joint convening of the 13th Clean Energy Ministerial and the 7th Mission Innovation ministerial. The side event gathered consortium leaders and grid system experts for a roundtable discussion that shared examples of technical and operational innovations that are accelerating power sector decarbonization and how to scale these innovations to rapidly integrate variable renewables and other advanced energy solutions into the power system.
Ahead of GCEAF, the G-PST Consortium also contributed to a collaborative report that highlights best practices in planning, building, and operating electricity systems – Lessons Learned for Rapid Decarbonization of Power Sectors (2022).
Breakfast at CIGRE Paris Session Introduces G-PST to Broader System Operator Network
The G-PST Consortium hosted a breakfast at the 2022 CIGRE Paris Session where G-PST’s Pillar 1 co-lead and Energy Systems Integration Group (ESIG) Executive Director, Charlie Smith, introduced the G-PST and its goals to a broader system operator audience. Representatives from 17 different system operators joined. Examples of cross-fertilization of ideas through the interactions of a diverse body of industry representatives in the G-PST helped tell a compelling story of the benefits of participation and illustrated the point that everyone has something to contribute, and all contributions are welcome. The event’s purpose was to encourage more system operators to engage with the G-PST and benefit from its work and resources. If you’re interested in partnering with G-PST, inquire at globalpst@nrel.gov.
Team Spotlight
Meet Barbara O’Neill
Mrs. Barbara O’Neill is the Grid Integration Manager at NREL and a representative for the G-PST Consortium. She leads projects and engages stakeholders on renewable energy integration practices, policies, regulations, and technologies. She has worked in such places as Tunisia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Morocco, Chad, Kazakhstan, Guyana, Vietnam, Mexico, Peru, Mongolia, China, Uzbekistan, and Colombia. Before NREL, she was Director at EDF Renewable Energy, where her team developed utility-scale wind and solar projects. Previously, she worked at Xcel Energy in Resource Planning where she negotiated hundreds of megawatts of renewable energy power purchase agreements, performed integrated resource planning, and optimized dispatch models. She holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from Pratt Institute, an M.S. in energy management and policy from University of Pennsylvania, and a Diplôme d’Ingénieur in petroleum economics and management from the Institut Français du Pétrole.
In her Q&A, Barbara shares more about her work with G-PST so far, why she believes G-PST’s mission is so important, as well as her advice for young professionals building their power systems careers.
Announcements
G-PST/ESIG Webinar Series: Probabilistic Resource Adequacy Methods
October 20, 2022 – 4:00 PM EDT
This presentation will provide an update on what’s happening in the world of probabilistic resource adequacy methods. Think of it as a “Best of Album” in the niche genre of resource adequacy and reliability planning. By drawing on recent study work from around the world, the presentation will cover novel approaches to model resource adequacy across broad regions, the consideration of extreme weather, modeling approaches for battery energy storage, the effects of correlated outages thermal generators, considering benefits of transmission, and much more. The objective is to provide both practitioners and end users of resource adequacy models an overview of new studies and approaches needed to ensure reliability during the clean energy transition.
Planning for Peru’s Power System – The Control Center of the Future Assessment
December 15, 2022 – 11:00 AM EDT
Peru’s system operator, Comité de Operación Económica del Sistema Interconectado Nacional (COES), is embarking on a shift to higher wind and solar energy penetrations in its power system. As its power system undergoes these transformative changes, advanced methods and tools will be required in the COES transmission monitoring and control centers. To support COES with identifying solutions to these challenges, G-PST’s System Operator Technical Support Pillar (Pillar 2) worked alongside the COES team to develop a set of possible recommended investment priorities to adapt to more variable generation, as well as shifting energy demand profiles through electrification and increased growth rates. In this webinar, experts from COES and G-PST’s Core Team partner organization, EPRI, will outline the assessment and share insights about the optimal approaches for control center improvements that COES is considering to meet the demands of their future power system. Explore the full control center assessment.
Resources
Publications
Towards 100% Green Electrons
Published through MegaVind in June 2022; Written, in part, by G-PST Consortium partners at DTU, Energinet, and Ørsted
Denmark and many other countries are currently in the process of transforming our energy systems into a system dominated by wind and solar coupled with additional variable demand from P2X, heat pumps, electrical vehicles, and other electricity consumers. This transformation presents numerous challenges to the future operation of the electrical grid, requiring the deployment of new tools, methods, and technologies.
This Megavind report sets out to achieve two things. First, to break down the system complexity into two categories: variability and stability. Hopefully, this will provide non-expert readers with a framework to navigate the complex nature of the topic. Second, to outline the potential solution spaces for the development of the electrical grid towards becoming 100% renewables-based and provide specific recommendations for the realization of that goal. Explore the report.
Incorporating Renewable Energy Sources and New Tech into the Electric Grid
Published through T&D World in August 2022; Written, in part, by G-PST Consortium partners at NREL and IEEE
With society calling for more sustainable energy solutions, the utilities industry and the entire energy production, transmission, and distribution system are undergoing a fundamental transformation to the use of new technologies and a higher level of decentralized energy infrastructure and customer participation in the power system. As these trends grow, so also does the need for standardization of requirements for efficient implementations and operations of these systems.
G-PST is supporting the development of these standards and advocating for universal system-wide requirements, while fostering power system research, technology pilots, workforce development, and the deployment of open-source tools and technical assistance to system operators around the globe. Read the article.
Webinar Recordings
Visit the Resources page to explore our full library of recordings. Find our June – October 2022 recordings below.
Open-Source Power Systems Analysis Packages: Cross-package Coordination for System Planning
Fostering the Use of AI for Power System Transformation
Impedance Scan Tools for Stability Analysis of IBR Grids
Wind and Solar Power Forecast Management
Operating the System Towards Zero Carbon
Update on Changing Role of Resources and Growth of Utility Scale Storage