Smart Inverters to Support DERs and Grid Resiliency

Their Operational Promise for Power Systems

April 28-29, 2021 | Online ::

0421-smart-inverters

Two key elements of facilitating the transition to a power delivery system with multi-directional flows, characterized by renewable energy and DERs, involve:

1. Implementing advanced (smart) inverter technology that will appropriately “flex” with the legacy distribution and transmission systems to integrate with a new power delivery paradigm
2. Conforming to updated interconnection standards — IEEE 1547, UL 1741 SA and others — that recognize how the system should accommodate this evolving generation and energy storage resources landscape

This course will examine the power system impacts triggered by the advancing penetration of solar and distributed energy resources, and what role smart inverters can play in supporting stable grid conditions.  It will identify how utilities, bulk power system operators, service providers and project developers must conform their practices to address the technology challenges triggered by these behind-the-meter and customer-originating power conditions. 

Learning Outcomes

• Examine how solar and storage advanced inverters can improve grid performance under conditions of growing DER penetration
• Discuss the ways in which smart inverters can provide power system operators real-time DER performance monitoring and improve grid stability
• Examine how smart inverters can reduce the impact of high penetration DG on distribution feeders and boost their hosting capacity
• Correlate the changes in codes and standards that will facilitate improved inverter functionality on power systems
• Identify distribution storage opportunities utilizing batteries, their options and the path forward

Wednesday, April 28, 2021 : Central Time

9:15 – 10:30 a.m. :: The Importance of Stakeholders and Perspectives on Inverter System Deployment

• Stakeholders
  • OEM
  • Project developer
  • Plant operator
  • Utility, load serving entity or balancing area
  • ISO or other transmission scheduling entity
  • Policy-makers, regulatory and standards-setting entities
  • Third-party aggregators
  • Reliability organization
• Control aspects
  • Grid
  • Plant

10:30 – 10:45 a.m. :: Break

10:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. :: Inverter-dependent Resources and Their Impact on Primary Power Systems

• Transmission / Bulk power system (BPS) system
  • Frequency response
  • Voltage support
  • Voltage and frequency ride through
  • Impacts of momentary cessation
  • System protection
  • Weak (high impedance) systems
• Distribution (DER-scale inverter resources) system
  • Reactive power capability and voltage regulation/power control
  • Voltage and frequency ride-through
  • Momentary cessation
  • Power quality
    • Limits on DC injection
    • Rapid voltage changes
    • Flicker
    • Limitations on current distortion
    • Limitations on over-voltage contribution

12:15 – 1:00 p.m. :: Lunch Break          

1:00 – 2:45 p.m. :: Technical Support that Inverters Can Supply to the Grid

• Bulk Power/Transmission Systems
  • Aspirational – what do we want inverters to do?
    • Synthetic inertia / fast frequency response
    • Load levelling (duck curve)
    • Deployment at weak nodes
    • Black start support
  • System protection
    • Legacy system (rotating machine) substitution functions
    • Future system optimization
  • Distribution (DER) Systems
    • Reactive power exchange
    • Active power curtailment
    • Head-room to provide frequency response
    • Voltage ride-through with extended voltage trip settings
    • Frequency ride-through with extended frequency trip settings

2:45 – 3:00 p.m. :: Break

3:00 – 4:45 p.m. :: Cost & Deployment Dimensions

• Re-imagining the centralized system design bias to optimize the contribution of inverter-based resources (IBR)
• Cost drivers
  • Reliability
  • Resiliency
  • De-carbonization public policies
• System elements that require investments to accommodate IBR and who should bear them
  • Controls
  • Aging infrastructure
  • Protection
  • Operations
• Regulatory framework
  • FERC
  • NERC
  • State commissions
  • Standards and codes
    • IEEE
    • NEC

4:45 p.m. :: Course Adjourns for Day

Thursday, April 29, 2021 : Central Time

9:00 – 10:15 a.m. :: Developments in Inverter Technology that Provide Grid Support

• Controls advancements
• Interoperability
• Two quadrant vs four quadrant
• Modular designs
• MTBF
• Manufacturing capacity and supply chain
• Other

10:15 – 10:30 a.m. :: Break

10:30 – 11:45 a.m. :: What the Power Industry Needs to know to Leverage Inverter-Based Resources (as Non-wire Alternatives) – BTM and FTM

• Utilities and other grid operators
  • Improve reliability
• Project developers
  • Improve project performance and LCOE
• Policy
  • De-carbonization
• OEM

11:45 a.m. :: Course Adjournment

John Berdner, Vice President – Regulatory Strategy, Enphase Energy

John Berdner is the Vice President of Regulatory Strategy for Enphase Energy.  He has a strong industry track record with leadership roles at companies such as SMA America, SolarEdge Technologies, and most recently Enphase Energy. He is active in many Codes and Standards groups including IEEE 1547, UL 1741, National Electrical Code, and the CA Smart Inverter Working Group.  He also provides technical knowledge to policy groups such as CalSEIA and DERC Hawaii.

Jens Boemer, Principal Technical Leader – Power Delivery and Utilization Sector, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Invited

Jens Boemer is Principal Technical Leader in the Transmission Operations and Planning group of the Power Delivery and Utilization Sector at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).  He leads EPRI’s strategic research on integrated transmission & distribution planning and operations, including projects on the grid integration of renewable and distributed energy resources with a focus on power system stability issues. His areas of expertise include interconnection guidelines, aggregated modeling of distributed solar photovoltaics for bulk power system reliability studies, and DER communications and control..  In addition, he contributes to the drafting of IEEE and other standards, including IEEE Std 1547-2018 and is the lead and contributing author of reports and White Papers on interconnection requirements for DER.  Dr. Boemer joined EPRI in November 2014 with 10 years of experience in technical and regulatory requirements that helped to facilitate the German “Energiewende” (energy transition). In 2013/2014 he studied at Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, in the Intelligent Electrical Power Grids group of the Electrical Sustainable Energy department from where he obtained a Ph.D. degree. Until October 2012, he was Senior Consultant in the Power Systems and Markets Group at the Ecofys premises in Berlin, Germany. He received his Dipl.-Ing. in Electrical Engineering from Technical University of Dortmund, Germany, where he specialized on power systems and renewable energies.

Mike Coddington, Principal Engineer – Integrated Devices and Systems Group , National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

Michael Coddington is a Principal Engineer with the Integrated Devices and Systems Group at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).  Before coming to NREL nearly 10 years ago, he worked as a Distribution Planning and network Engineer, System Planning Engineer, Key Account Executive, and numerous other roles at two electric utility companies.  His work at NREL focuses on the integration of photovoltaic systems (and other distributed generation systems) to the electric distribution system, with a focus on high penetration PV concerns and solutions.  Mr. Coddington has authored and collaborated on dozens of technical reports and papers focusing on integrating distributed generation systems onto the grid in a safe, reliable and cost-effective manner.  He is active in standards and codes development, is a Senior Member of the IEEE, was Secretary of IEEE 1547.6, and is a voting member of the UL1741 Standards Technical Panel (STP).  He received his electrical engineering degree from Colorado State University.

Babak Enayati, Manager of Technology Deployment, National Grid

Babak Enayati is Manager of Technology Deployment at National Grid, leading a team which is responsible for deploying new technologies on National Grid’s electric transmission network.   He started his career at the utility in 2010, and over the years has worked on power system protection, control of microgrids, modeling and aging analysis of electrical asynchronous machines, optimization of electrical drives, multi-generation power system dynamics analysis, and control of switched reluctance motors.  Dr. Enayati is the Vice Chair of the IEEE 1547 standard, has led the Microgrid section of the IEEE 1547.8 and is IEEE PES Boston Chapter Chair.  He received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY and is an adjunct professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Andy Hoke, Senior Engineer – Power Systems Engineering Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

Anderson F. Hoke is a Senior Engineer in the Power Systems Engineering Center of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). His research interests include power electronics and controls for integration of distributed and renewable energy with electric power systems. He is experienced in design, testing, modeling, simulation, and hardware-in-the-loop techniques.  Dr. Hoke is active in DER standards development and is currently the Chair of the IEEE P1547.1 Working Group. Before joining NREL, he designed and installed renewable and distributed energy systems, including more than 100 grid-tied and off-grid solar PV systems. He received the B.A. degree in engineering physics from Dartmouth College, M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Colorado. Dr. Hoke has co-authored some 50 publications and received the IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) General Meeting Best Conference Paper Award in 2015 and 2017.

Michael Ropp, Principal Member – Technical Staff, Sandia National Laboratories

Michael Ropp is Principal Member of the Technical Staff specializing in power electronics at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM, which he joined in 2019.  Preceding that, he was president and principal engineer of Northern Plains Power Technologies.  Dr. Ropp has two decades’ experience in power engineering, power electronics, and photovoltaics.  He has worked in nearly every aspect of photovoltaics, from solar cell fabrication through on- and off-grid system design.  He has authored more than fifty technical publications and holds two patents.  Dr. Ropp is a Senior Member of the IEEE and is active in standards creation.  He received a Bachelor degree in Music from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Charlie Vartanian, Senior Technical Advisor – Storage Reliability and Integration, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)

Charlie Vartanian is a Sr. Technical Advisor in Storage Reliability and Integration, within PNNL’s Electrochemical Materials and Systems Group. His focus is the advancement of reliability and integration of grid connected energy storage systems. Charlie has over 25 years of power industry experience deploying advanced grid technologies, performing electric system studies, and contributing to technical standards development. He has worked previously for Mitsubishi Electric, UET, DNV KEMA, A123 Systems, Enron, the California Energy Commission, and Southern California Edison. During his 15 years at Southern California Edison, Charlie’s activities spanned traditional T&D planning through R&D. He is a currently Secretary of the IEEE 1547.9 Guide for DER Energy Storage Interconnection working group, and Co-Chair of the IEEE Energy Storage Task Force. Charlie received his BSEE from Cal Poly Pomona, and his MSEE from USC. 

We will be using Microsoft Teams to facilitate your participation in the upcoming event. You do not need to have an existing Teams account in order to participate in the broadcast – the course will play in your browser and you will have the option of using a microphone to speak with the room and ask questions, or type any questions in via the chat window and our on-site representative will relay your question to the instructor.

• IMPORTANT NOTE: After November 30 you will not be able to join a Teams meeting using Internet Explorer 11. Microsoft recommends downloading and installing the Teams app if possible. You may also use the Edge browser or Chrome.
• You will receive a meeting invitation will include a link to join the meeting.
• Separate meeting invitations will be sent for the morning and afternoon sessions of the course.
  • You will need to join the appropriate meeting at the appropriate time.
• If you are using a microphone, please ensure that it is muted until such time as you need to ask a question.
• The remote meeting connection will be open approximately 30 minutes before the start of the course. We encourage you to connect as early as possible in case you experience any unforeseen problems.

REGISTER NOW FOR THIS EVENT:

Smart Inverters to Support DERs and Grid Resiliency

April 28-29, 2021 | Online

Your registration may be transferred to a member of your organization up to 24 hours in advance of the event. Cancellations must be received on or before March 26, 2021 in order to be refunded and will be subject to a US $195.00 processing fee per registrant. No refunds will be made after this date. Cancellations received after this date will create a credit of the tuition (less processing fee) good toward any other EUCI event. This credit will be good for six months from the cancellation date. In the event of non-attendance, all registration fees will be forfeited. In case of conference cancellation, EUCIs liability is limited to refund of the event registration fee only. For more information regarding administrative policies, such as complaints and refunds, please contact our offices at 303-770-8800

Credits

EUCI is accredited by the International Accreditors for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) and offers IACET CEUs for its learning events that comply with the ANSI/IACET Continuing Education and Training Standard. IACET is recognized internationally as a standard development organization and accrediting body that promotes quality of continuing education and training.

EUCI is authorized by IACET to offer 0.9 CEUs for this event.

Requirements for Successful Completion of Program

Participants must log in each day and be in attendance for the entirety of the event to be eligible for continuing education credit.

Instructional Methods

Case studies, PowerPoint presentations, and panel discussions will be used in this program.