Integrated Microgrid Technologies R&D Accelerating trajectories for deployment and commercialization

Marc Mueller-Stoffels

Director, Power Systems Integration Program

Alaska Center for Energy and Power

Terminology

• Islanded: not connected to a transmission grid. • Microgrid: a small-scale power grid that can

operate independently or in conjunction with the area's main electrical grid.

• Hybrid-Diesel: grid powered by diesel and other (renewable) power sources.

• Renewable Penetration: the fraction of renewable power (instantaneous penetration) or energy (average penetration) in the grid.

• Diesel-off: operation without (mechanical) synchronous generator.

Overview

• Alaska overview

– Specifics on Energy

• Why in-system R&D matters

• Power Systems Integration Lab

– Overview

– Project examples

• Commercialization Center

Alaska overview

Alaska overview

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Alaska overview

• Size: 1.7 million km^2 (4.7 x Germany)

• Population: 710,000 (15% Indigenous)

• Purchased from Russia in 1867 for $7.2M ($120M with inflation)

• Statehood in 1959, 49th state of the USA

• Highest Peak in North America, Denali (frmly Mt. McKinley), 6194 m

• Industry: Oil & Gas, Minerals (Ag/Cu), Fishing, Tourism

Alaska Remote Power

• 250+ remote islanded microgrids in AK: – May exhibit renewable power

penetration in excess of 300% – Have achieved >98% renewable

energy penetration – Permanently islanded =

millions of hours of `lower-48 emergency’ operation

– Function in challenging: • Technical conditions • Logistic conditions • Economic conditions • Human capacity conditions

Alaska Center for Energy and Power Mission: Develop practical and cost effective energy solutions

for Alaska and beyond.

ACEP

Power Systems Integration

Program

PSI Laboratory

AK Hydrokinetic Energy

Research Center

Tanana River Testsite

Data Acquisition and

Management

Global Applications

Program Other Research

Geothermal Exploration

Biomass Applications

Program Objective

• Support utilities operating remote systems: – System Analysis – Modeling and conceptual

design – Equipment tests and

assessment

• Support product and project developers: – In-system R&D – Product hardening and

testing – Data and models – Market analysis

WHY IN-SYSTEM R&D AND TESTING?

Shipwrecks of good intentions*

• Technology failures – Power quality – Control integration – Environmental conditions

• Engineering failures – Overestimating technology

capabilities – Underestimating complexity

• Implementation failures – Lack of information – Cutting corners – Lack of training

• Company failures – Great engineers do not always

make great business people *Will Galton

Increasing complexity

Complexity

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Power is ON!

Power is OFF! Customer-states: Power is ON or OFF. Many configurations may meet ON state.

Complexity

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Power is ON and CHEAPEST!

Power is OFF!

Complexity

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Power is ON and most RELIABLE!

Power is OFF!

Complexity

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Power is ON and cheap and reliable!

Power is OFF!

Now add…

• More objectives: – Cheapest – Most reliable – Least diesel utilization – Equitable demand

management – Maintenance schedules – …

• More resources – Renewable generation – Energy storage – Demand management – …

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Complexity kills. It sucks the life [and funds] out of developers, it makes products difficult to plan, build and test, it introduces security [and reliability] challenges and it causes end-user [customer] and administrator [and operator] frustration.

— Ray Ozzie

POWER SYSTEMS INTEGRATION LAB

Full size R&D and testing environment

500 kW grid emulator: - 480 VAC 600 A main bus - 208 VAC 600 A secondary

bus - 12 main CB switch gear - 1000 VDC 400 A DC bus

Components

• 400 kVA Cat C-15 with EasyGen 3100

• 150 kVA Detroit 50 with EasyGen 3100

• 100 kW Wind Emulator • 100 kW DC Power Source

– High slew rate – PV emulator

• 320 kVA ABB PCS100 Inverter – 450 to 1000 VDC – 250 to 450 VDC @ 250 kVA

• 540 VDC 1000 Ah VRLA Battery • 626 kVA reactive loads

– Phase imbalances possible

• 10 kA (1/4 cycle) fault emulator – Bolted p-p and p-g faults

SCADA

• 1000+ Channels – 3 to 5 Samples/s

• ElectroIndustries Shark 100 T/B meters

• Elspec G4430 PQ analyzer

• Tekron NTS • Custom server and NAS • Linux platform • netCDF file structure

– Uniform naming convention and schema

Flywheel/Inverter/Controls Integration • Hatch (lead, controls,

integration), Williams/KTSi (partner, flywheel), ABB (support, PCS100)

• Specification: – Inverter – Control interfaces – Operating modes

• Integration: – 200 kW Flywheel – ABB PCS100 – Hatch Control System

• Testing: – Power quality mitigation

strategies – Power smoothing

Hydrokinetic turbine R&D [and grid integration]

• Oceana Energy, ACEP, [Ideal Power]

• In-river turbine performance testing

• Debris interactions minimized (ACEP developed technology)

• Next up: grid integration R&D

Specification, Design, Assessment SDA Process developed by our collaborators at TU Darmstadt, Germany.

Energy Storage for Nome, AK

• Wind-diesel system

– 4 MW average demand

– 2.7 MW wind nameplate capacity

– Diesels: 1.9, 3.6, and two 5.4 MW units

• Wind power diversion to boilers at times

– Stability and minimum optimal loading issues

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Objective: Avoid or delay diesel starts by providing spinning reserve capacity (SRC) with storage.

Nome, AK: Specification

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Nome, AK: Design

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Required for meeting objective 99% of times: - 959 kW power capacity - 58 kWh energy capacity - Later design decision

required high cycle life -> flywheel

Nome, AK: Assessment

• Fuel savings with primary objective only: – 430 to 1150 gal/week

(medium to high winds)

– Slight increase in fuel use for stand-by operation

• Potential value add: – Diesel demand

smoothing

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Commercialization Center

• Program to provide: – Baseline guidance

– Business development support

– Access to investors

– Access to Power Systems Integration Team and Lab

– Information on new technologies and their performance

• Objectives: – Build microgrid

economy

– Provide accelerated pathways to commercial products that work

– Ensure that companies with good products survive

Funded by US Economic Development Administration and State of AK

Services provided

• Utilities – Technical support (planning,

design, implementation and optimization)

– Impartial technology assessment

• Technology providers – R&D environment and support – Critical technology assessment – Opportunity matching

• Regulators/Funding agencies – Support data acquisition and

management – Third-party reviews – Legislation/Regulation impact

assessment

Thank you!

Dr. Marc Mueller-Stoffels

Director, Power Systems Integration Program

Alaska Center for Energy and Power

Institute of Northern Engineering

University of Alaska Fairbanks

mmuellerstoffels@alaska.edu

(907) 687 0259

http://acep.uaf.edu

Partners: US Department of Energy US Department of the Interior US Denali Commission US Economic Development Administration State of Alaska Alaska Energy Authority Alaska Power and Telephone Cordova Electric Cooperative City of Cordova Nome Joint Utility Systems Kokhanok Village Council City of Galena Power and Water Corporation, Darwin, Australia National Renewable Energy Laboratory Sandia National Laboratory Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory Colorado State University Technical University Darmstadt, Germany ABB Shell Northern Plains Power Technology Huntley and Associates Hatch Associates Consultants Oceana Energy LLC Marsh Creek LLC