Grid reliability is at the core of the Advanced Grid Institute\u2019s (AGI) mission to lead the way in the nation\u2019s demand for reliable power systems. Severe weather events such as wildfire, hurricanes, and earthquakes have the potential to damage power grid infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jason Fuller, an AGI-affiliated researcher and principal research engineer at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and Charlotte Wertz, a Distinguished Graduate Research Program (DGRP) student at Washington State University (WSU), are working to help bolster power grid stability through research jointly conducted at WSU and PNNL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wertz is in her third year of the electrical engineering PhD program at WSU. Through the DGRP program, she is conducting research with Fuller, her PhD co-advisor through the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI got my undergraduate degree in electrical engineering at WSU with an emphasis in power systems and had some really positive experiences during that time that I think have shaped my research interests,\u201d said Wertz. \u201cI had some internships in industry; I worked for a construction contractor first and then went more into the power system side of things where I got to have a government internship working in energy regulation. Then I interned at PNNL, which brought me into DGRP.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fuller took a different route than Wertz into electrical engineering, earning an undergraduate degree in physics from the University of Washington, then enrolling for a master\u2019s program at WSU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think electrical engineering or mechanical or other engineering areas feels a bit more near term in terms of \u2018I could see some impact, I could see some changes, I could see that\u2019s going out and working,\u2019\u201d said Fuller. \u201cThere\u2019s probably at least a subset of us that get really attracted to that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During his education at WSU, Fuller met an adjunct professor who was also with PNNL and was offered an internship at the national lab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s where I discovered \u2018Oh this is exciting; this is really great stuff,\u2019\u201d Fuller said. \u201cThere were new opportunities right at the time I was getting started, about 2008\/2009. The system was rapidly changing, and I had the opportunity at a national lab to impact that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wertz and Fuller connected through DGRP. After conducting undergraduate research with Anamika Dubey, AGI Co-Director and WSU associate professor of electrical engineering, Wertz continued into graduate school being advised by Dubey and became jointly advised by Fuller after starting with DGRP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wertz\u2019s work in grid stability focuses on the quantification of severe weather events and the different ways to make that data and the insights interpretable for the utility companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m really interested in analyzing the impacts at the community level and developing solutions that help people,\u201d Wertz said. \u201cI think that\u2019s where my passion comes from, seeing a direct pipeline to positive community impact.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A major factor in grid stability lies in collaboration amongst experts from different backgrounds, not necessarily energy related, working together to find solutions to complex problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe biggest, hardest challenges are those that require subject matter experts from different fields to work together,\u201d Fuller said. \u201cThat\u2019s where a lot of these problems are today, where you think \u2018I could probably pull up this hurricane simulator, but my understanding is probably too simple to actually matter to the power system,\u2019 what I need is a subject matter expert in hurricane analysis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fuller explained that his work includes bringing together schools of thought from different subject matters to help understand how stability impacts more than just power systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf we have an outage on the natural gas network because of a storm, well, that\u2019s really going to affect my power grid, right?\u201d Fuller said. \u201cBecause a lot of our electricity is coming from natural gas or the fact that if I lose electricity, maybe my water treatment plant is no longer operating or only has three days to operate with its backup diesel generator. The things that get me excited about the research and development that we do is really being able to look at this not just as a single kind of contained problem, but because of the nature of the power grid and how it\u2019s tied to so much in our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Grid stability is extremely complex, and power outages can cause system-wide issues. It\u2019s important to also consider the people those grid disruptions would impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere are always going to be inherent trade-offs,\u201d Wertz said. \u201cIt\u2019s always going to be a \u2018higher cost and better system, or cheaper and not-as-good system problem.\u2019 I think when people know that, it\u2019s very easy for them to say \u2018I\u2019m okay with a couple hours of power outage every year if it means my electric bill is lower.\u2019 But the problem with that mindset is that you\u2019re not taking into account every person\u2019s situation. Someone who\u2019s diabetic and relies on insulin that they have to keep in the freezer doesn\u2019t have the same luxury to say that they\u2019re willing to deal with a few hours of a power outage every once in a while.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fuller explained there is a natural balance of affordability to consumers, societal benefits, legislative goals, and regulations that occur when considering power systems, and they take thoughtful consideration by the engineers working to solve the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the main threats to grid stability in the Pacific Northwest lies in severe weather events, which can disrupt the operations of power systems. Because the utility companies here vary in size and structure, it takes coordination to ensure that power comes back on after such events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe see a lot of extreme winds, atmospheric rivers, wildfires, and since we have such thick vegetation, things like wildfire and extreme wind can be very impactful,\u201d Wertz said. \u201cI would say one way that the Pacific Northwest power system differs from the rest of the country is just how diverse it is, in the sense that we have investor-owned utilities here, we have really small public co-op utilities, we have larger public utilities, and then we also have a large federal power and transmission system through Bonneville Power Administration. When a major event happens, these entities have to coordinate the damage assessment and restoration processes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A major part of increasing grid resiliency is figuring out the best ways to mitigate the risks that come along with extreme weather and other hazards. As previously mentioned, Wertz\u2019s research aims to help quantify weather events on the grid, but without a true standardized metric for resiliency, that can be hard to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is where resiliency differs from reliability, where power system reliability is kind of your day-to-day operation issues and you might have a five-minute power outage or flashing lights or things like that,\u201d Wertz said. \u201cWe have metrics to measure how reliable a system is. Resiliency is more of a question mark in the sense that there are a lot of proposed metrics, but not one single one that is widely accepted. It\u2019s relatively more complicated to develop a resiliency metric because they\u2019re such rare events, so we don\u2019t have the same amount of data to model and quantify the impacts. We need to have a metric before we can go and say, \u2018This is the best for improving our resiliency.\u2019 That\u2019s what I\u2019m hoping to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fuller explained the role that researchers play in grid reliability, specifically that researchers themselves don\u2019t control the power grid, rather they inform utility companies on best alternatives and investments the companies could make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re what we call a Federally Funded Research and Development Center, which means that we work very closely with the Department of Energy to help them understand where their investments, both in terms of research and infrastructure, matter the most,\u201d Fuller said, \u201ca lot of what we do is inform and educate. Rather than say, actually string up a transmissions line ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Keeping the power on during severe weather is another important challenge that AGI focuses on. There are several strategies and modern technologies that help the grid weather the storm, but these technologies aren\u2019t always enough during especially turbulent events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSometimes outages are inevitable if a weather event is too extreme, and in that case, it’s about mitigating the total impact and having the best, and fastest, response,\u201d Wertz said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The evolving technology in the power systems space has some exciting prospects that can help with efficiency of data processing and restoration after severe events. \u201cI think one of the big ones right now is we are getting sensors on the system like never before, which means we have far more data and information,\u201d Fuller said. \u201cNow the question is, \u2018How do you process and use that information to make a decision?\u2019, \u2018How do you inject things like AI decision making or AI supported decisions?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AGI helps facilitate this kind of research with the collaboration between a National Laboratory and a university, both bringing their own strengths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think there\u2019s a real value in things like national labs or other kind of more professional environments working closely with universities under something like the Advanced Grid Institute to expand our research portfolio and bring in new ideas and get a pipeline of new ideas into more near-term solutions,\u201d Fuller said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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