Beyond Blueprints: EPRI’s Vision and Strategies of the Hybrid Energy Future in 2024
01 HYB24-8
Presented by: Daniel V Pombo
The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has been playing a pivotal role in shaping the future of electricity since its foundation in 1972. As a non-profit organization, EPRI engages in objective and independent research, focusing on making energy safe, reliable, affordable, and sustainable. EPRI and its European counterpart, EPRI Europe, are actively collaborating in projects with innumerable organizations globally; fostering the scientific exchange between Europe and America and significantly contributing to the worldwide initiative for cleaner and more efficient energy solutions.
This paper will cover part of EPRI’s portfolio targeting hybrid power plants and systems with a particular focus on practical deployments. We examine projects covering some of the key sectors predicted to electrify at pace over the coming years: industrial heat generation, transport, data centers, and hydrogen electrolysis; outlining drivers and support mechanisms, their interdependencies, impact on resource adequacy, and EPRI’s role in different demonstrators.
For instance, the Horizon Europe project AGISTIN focuses on empowering industrial grid stakeholders to swiftly implement energy efficiency solutions via advanced communication infrastructure. This will be achieved through the integration of renewables, innovative energy storage technologies, hybrid AC/DC coupling, variable frequency drivers, electric vehicle (EV) chargers, electrolyzer, irrigation systems etc. Two field deployments with different configurations are expected with a strong focus on demonstrating grid forming capability from hybrid sites.
The "Bus Depot of the Future" initiative, supported by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), focuses on completely transitioning fossil fueled busses to electrical ones in the next 2 years. EPRI designs the complete system meaning defining size and configuration, internal energy management, external market participation and coordination with the DSO to ensure a proper integration of the distribution grid. The site will be capable of grid-connected and isolated operation including between 40 to 50 EV chargers, solar PV, battery, back up genset and a dynamic rating connection point. The project is cosponsored by the local system operator and the transportation agency, which are the site owners.
Lastly, the “Distributed Energy Resources stacked value project”, sponsored by NYSERDA, focuses on providing flexibility services via aggregators. The aim is to seamlessly integrate decentralized assets into Virtual Power Plants (VPP), contributing to enhanced grid flexibility and reliability.
These and other ongoing research projects and initiatives will be discussed in our paper focusing on the lessons learnt, and providing resources for those who work on similar endeavors.
This paper will cover part of EPRI’s portfolio targeting hybrid power plants and systems with a particular focus on practical deployments. We examine projects covering some of the key sectors predicted to electrify at pace over the coming years: industrial heat generation, transport, data centers, and hydrogen electrolysis; outlining drivers and support mechanisms, their interdependencies, impact on resource adequacy, and EPRI’s role in different demonstrators.
For instance, the Horizon Europe project AGISTIN focuses on empowering industrial grid stakeholders to swiftly implement energy efficiency solutions via advanced communication infrastructure. This will be achieved through the integration of renewables, innovative energy storage technologies, hybrid AC/DC coupling, variable frequency drivers, electric vehicle (EV) chargers, electrolyzer, irrigation systems etc. Two field deployments with different configurations are expected with a strong focus on demonstrating grid forming capability from hybrid sites.
The "Bus Depot of the Future" initiative, supported by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), focuses on completely transitioning fossil fueled busses to electrical ones in the next 2 years. EPRI designs the complete system meaning defining size and configuration, internal energy management, external market participation and coordination with the DSO to ensure a proper integration of the distribution grid. The site will be capable of grid-connected and isolated operation including between 40 to 50 EV chargers, solar PV, battery, back up genset and a dynamic rating connection point. The project is cosponsored by the local system operator and the transportation agency, which are the site owners.
Lastly, the “Distributed Energy Resources stacked value project”, sponsored by NYSERDA, focuses on providing flexibility services via aggregators. The aim is to seamlessly integrate decentralized assets into Virtual Power Plants (VPP), contributing to enhanced grid flexibility and reliability.
These and other ongoing research projects and initiatives will be discussed in our paper focusing on the lessons learnt, and providing resources for those who work on similar endeavors.