Utility and Grid Operator Power System Resources

Speaker: Killian McKenna, manager, NREL Distribution Edge Group, Grid Planning and Analysis Center
He leads research on distributed energy resource (DER) integration, distribution system planning and operation, and demand-side resources. His expertise includes modeling and simulation, field data analysis, techno-economic analysis, and interconnection. He has worked with electric distribution utilities (nationally and internationally), DER developers, nonprofit research institutions, and government agencies.

Agenda:

• Definitions and overview of installed DERs
• Core components of DER integration
• The interconnection process: Industry guidance and modeling requirements
• Key considerations for adopting DER interconnection standards
• Opportunities to streamline and automate interconnection
• DER submetering and advanced metering infrastructure analytics
• Discussion and Q&A

Speaker: Ismael Mendoza Carrillo, principal engineer, NREL Power Systems Engineering Center
His research focuses on controller and power hardware-in-the-loop experiments for the evaluation of advanced grid controls for energy management, system resilience, and interoperability in distribution and microgrid networks.

Agenda:

• Distribution operation and management systems
• Advanced distribution management systems (ADMS): The roadmap to a smarter grid
• Advantages of ADMS
• Challenges of implementing ADMS
• Future of ADMS
• Key takeaways and discussion

Speaker: Nik Urlaub, cybersecurity and resilience researcher, NREL
He has an electrical engineering background and experience in supervisory control and data acquisition systems and industrial control system cybersecurity.

Agenda:

• Threat landscape
• Cybersecurity challenges (distribution and DERs)
• Regulatory and guidelines
• Cybersecurity strategies and best practices
• DER integration and security
• Discussion and Q&A

Speaker: Abodh Poudyal, research engineer, NREL Grid Planning and Analysis Center
Poudyal is experienced in optimization and modeling of power distribution systems, resilience assessment and planning, and socioeconomic impact assessment of extreme weather events. He is also a secretary of the IEEE Modern and Future Distribution Systems Planning Working Group.

Agenda:

• Overview of weather hazards to distribution systems
• Characterizing reliability and resilience
• Resilience assessment and planning
• Investment prioritization and trade-offs
• Current state of the industry and challenges
• Q&A and discussion

Speaker: Bryan Palmintier, manager of Transmission and Distribution Interactions group, NREL Grid Planning and Analysis Center
His research focuses on integrating multidomain models and hardware testing spanning electric power systems, larger multi-energy systems (including transportation, buildings, and water), and aerospace systems as well as advanced tools and approaches for integrating distributed energy technologies in the power system.

Agenda:

• Motivation for transmission and distribution (T&D) and integrated generation-transmission-distribution-customer planning
• Transmission and distribution interactions to consider with examples
• Load/DER trends
• Stability and power flow
• Systemwide services from DERs
• Bidirectional value streams
• Evolving workflows with some examples
• Walk: Data exchange
• Jog: Iteration among transmission and distribution-scale analyses
• Run: Co-optimization
• Discussion and Q&A

Speaker: Michael Blonsky, researcher, NREL Grid Planning and Analysis Center
He focuses on modeling and control of flexible loads such as HVAC systems, water heaters, electric vehicles, and other distributed energy resources. He is the lead developer for OCHRE, a residential energy model for building-to-grid integration studies.

Agenda:

• Load forecasting as a foundation of system planning
• Evolution of load forecasting strategies
• Industry benchmarking: current challenges and interests
• NREL capabilities: technology adoption modeling, building stock models, and impact assessments
• Load forecasting workflows
• Q&A and discussion  

Speaker: Paul Denholm, senior research fellow, NREL Strategic Energy Analysis and Decision Support group
Denholm is an IEEE Fellow, leading research in grid applications for energy storage and solar energy. His research focuses on examining the technical and economic impacts of large-scale deployment of distributed electricity generation.

Agenda:

• The three Rs: reliability, resource adequacy, and resilience
• Resource adequacy 101
• New approaches to evaluating resource adequacy
• New challenges in maintaining resource adequacy
• Discussion and Q&A

Speaker: Andy Hoke, principal engineer, NREL Power Systems Engineering Center
Hoke researches advanced inverter controls design, hardware-in-the-loop testing and model development, power systems modeling and simulation, and standards development. He is also the chair of IEEE Standards 1547.1 and P2800.2 and is a registered professional engineer in Colorado.

 

Agenda:

• Challenges for high-inverter-based resources grids
• Standards for transmission-connected inverter-based resources
  
• Electromagnetic transient modeling
• Inverter-based resource (IBR) grid-driven oscillation investigations
• Grid-forming inverters
• Looking forward
• Discussion and Q&A

Speakers:

Harsha Vardhana Padullaparti, researcher, NREL Power Systems Engineering Center
Padullaparti is focused on DER controls and operations, communication architectures, virtual power plants (VPPs), and distributed energy resource management systems (DERMS).

Kumaraguru Prabakar, principal engineer, NREL's Power Systems Engineering Center
Prabakar researches inverter controls, hardware-in-the-loop testing and simulation, system protection, and microgrids.

Agenda:

• Introduction to microgrids, VPPs, and DERMS
• General industry trends and standards on microgrids and VPPs
• Understanding the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Order 2222
• VPP lift off report and roadmaps
• Q&A and discussion

Speaker:

Thomas Bowen, researcher, NREL Grid Planning and Analysis Center
He specializes in energy policy, market and data analysis, rate and tariff design, DER valuation, and energy efficiency.

Christina Simeone, senior researcher, NREL Grid Planning and Analysis Center
Simeone specializes in transmission planning, interregional transmission, energy policy, energy economics, markets design, and rate and tariff design.

Agenda:

• Rate components and definitions
• Price and cost trends, drivers of costs
• Rates as retail price signals to load
• Evolving grid needs, evolving rate designs
• Case studies around the world
• Discussion and Q&A

Speakers:

Clayton Barrows, group manager, Grid Operations Planning Group in the Grid Planning and Analysis Center at NREL
His research interests include power system modeling, complex system optimization, network science, and modeling software design.

Luke Lavin, senior research engineer, NREL Grid Planning and Analysis Center
His primary interests are in how electricity market design and pricing affect adoption and operation of electric generation, storage, and other resources.

Agenda:

• Grid impacts of load growth of the current bulk power system
• Review of recent trends and events related to large load integration
• What might these new large loads look like?
• What are options for reducing costs and timelines of integration?
• Toward a framework for identifying hot spots for efficiently interconnecting large loads
• Discussion and Q&A

Speakers:

Vincent Westfallen, principal engineer, NREL
He brings three decades of utility experience at a major investor-owned utility to his research on the evolution of integrated distribution planning.

Lawryn Kiboma, researcher, NREL Grid Planning and Analysis Center
Kiboma has expertise in grid integration of distributed energy generation through modeling and analysis work, energy markets, and food-energy-water interactions.

Agenda:

• Perspectives on integrated distribution planning
• State of the industry
• Emerging practices and examples
• Integrated distribution planning readiness self-assessment
• Q&A and discussion