Sessions

Abstract: Installation and connection of battery energy storage systems (BESS), is growing enormously because of multiple benefits they could bring to utilities and consumers. These inverter-based systems exhibit fast dynamics response to disturbances and could change the power system behavior especially in high penetration distributed energy resource (DER) areas. By developing an EMTP-RV model of the BESS and power distribution system, a range of connection impacts can be identified and assessed based on time domain analysis. Major studies include the BESS short circuit current contribution, momentary interruption, reactive support and voltage control, transient overvoltage (including ground transformer performance testing), real power (charge/discharge) ramp up/down, reactive power ramp up/down and power quality analysis (flicker and harmonic studies). In this presentation, a Detailed Technical Connection Impact Assessment (DTCIA) of a 3.2MW/6.4MWh behind-the-meter (BTM) utility scale BESS, located in Niagara region will be discussed and results will be analyzed. Discussion includes all required studies to be done to permit BESS connecting to point of connection (POC) and how to perform the study by choosing right platform, modeling, study procedure and interpretation methodology. The Studied BESS system was due to start operation in May 2020.

More than 110 countries and 200 of the world’s largest companies have pledged to achieve net zero carbon by or before 2050. It is on all of us to reach this critical goal quickly. The power industry must lead the way, enabling the electrification and decarbonization of the broader economy. The question is “How does the U.S. power sector achieve net zero by 2050?” Join us today on the journey to achieve decarbonization. Together, we can create a Change in Power. Key Takeaways: Decarbonize power generation and enable other sectors to do the same Lower the cost of green hydrogen to stimulate adoption Industry leaders need to be entrepreneurial collaborators

The future of energy in Texas and the US is one of carbon-free promise, but numerous challenges face us in designing and operating an electrical system to meet the growing demand for power while ensuring resiliency, reliability, and security. How do we manage these challenges within a changing regulatory regime and with an evolving threat environment? Deepa Poduval, Vice President & Global Advisory Leader at Black & Veatch kicks off the Leadership Summit with a short introduction. Following his remarks will be a conversation with former US Secretary of Energy and former Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, Massoud Amin, professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Minnesota, and Julia Matevosyan, Chief Engineer at ESIG Energy. This give-and-take discussion will offer a candid assessment of the policy, technology, and cybersecurity issues that are crucial to the bulk power system’s future.

When increasingly frequent climate-related severe weather incidents and the influx of intermittent renewables add uncertainty and instability to power networks, reliable backup power is mandatory. Reliable and carbon-neutral. Enabling both resilient AND sustainable long-duration energy generation and storage, hydrogen-fueled backup and off-grid power solutions deliver this key capability. Reliable, sustainable backup power is increasingly important, not only for emergency response and disaster recovery for mission-critical applications like utility substations, but also to drive innovative use cases such as EV charging stations and hybrid microgrids. In this session we host the system integrator that deployed our resilient AND sustainable backup systems at over 70 substations at the Mexican state-owned utility CFE.
 

Sponsored by Baker Hughes: Electrification in Mobility is gathering pace, and power is becoming the most critical input to these operations.  The future of airports is to electrify terminal infrastructure, ground service equipment, busses, and regional cargo airplanes.  Cruise Ships and Cargo Ships are ripe for shore power conversion, and there is significant political support for electrifying port operations.  Municipalities are planning for city bus fleet electrification with many projects underway.  As our country electrifies transportation, on-site power generation often offers a cleaner, cheaper, more resilient solutions.  Authority Planners, Design Firms, and Energy Technology companies are committed to designing and deploying on-site Microgrids to meet local and industry-set decarbonization goals.  This talk identifies specific Transportation Applications and discusses how to best approach each with an integrated solution.

Renewable generation proliferation in the energy market is driving the need for flexibility in gas fired power plants to enable a wider and emissions compliant operability range. The ability for a gas fired plant to peak fire while maintaining emissions compliance, full life interval capability, improved simple and combined cycle heat rate and the ability to achieve extended turndown, positions a gas fired asset to benefit from an improved capacity factor, and overall economic viability in an increasingly renewables’ dependent energy market. A novel and innovative combustion system retrofit platform, called the “FlameSheet™ Combustor, has been combined with advanced turbine and compressor upgrade packages commercially operating in F-class combustion turbines. Currently, FlameSheet™ is operating on two F-class platforms, Siemens 501FD2 and GE Frame 7FA.03, due its multi-platform flexibility. Coupling FlameSheet™ with advanced turbine and compressor upgrade packages have allowed operators to meet higher peak firing and lower minimum load while maintaining low emissions, widening the total operating window. The results of these upgrades will be presented with emphasis on plant performance data on turndown and peak firing capabilities including repairability of components showcasing the added benefit of extended maintenance interval capabilities. The output and heat rate improvement achieved with this upgrade scope that has enabled improved capacity is also highlighted. As shale gas continues to grow as a dominant source of the U.S natural gas supply, the need for fuel flexible combustion systems enabling tolerance to higher ethane/ethylene concentrations associated with shale gas is required for improved operability. The adverse impact and means to mitigate such higher ethane/ethylene content with standard OEM F-Class heavy-duty combustion systems is also presented as part of the capabilities of FlameSheet™ combustion retrofits.

The Department of Energy (DOE) and the NETL national lab have created an advanced, open-source computational platform through the Institute for the Design of Advanced Energy Systems (IDAES). The IDAES platform is the next generation, multiscale and optimization framework that bridges the gap between process simulators and algebraic modeling languages. IDAES can be used as a digital twin to improve the efficiency and reliability of the existing power generation fleet, and to accelerate the development of integrated advanced-energy systems. IDAES is built upon an extensible, equation-oriented process model library that supports both steady-state and dynamic modeling. The system enables rigorous, large-scale mathematical optimization that supports better decision making by considering the behavior of integrated processes and systems. Robust optimization, and stochastic programming methodologies support both process and grid infrastructure design applications, and handle multi-stage decision-making, allowing users to perform co-optimization of design, planned upgrading/retrofitting, and/or operational control of advanced energy systems. The IDAES platform consists of a library of classes, methods and functions that are assessed via Python-language programs and methods. Python offers the IDAES user access to the broad range of data analytics and reporting supported by the high-level language but requires the user to have programming knowledge of the language. MapEx Software has developed a desktop software application that allows the IDAES user to build models via a flowsheet-based, graphical user interface, which frees the user from the need to write Python language code. Initial applications of the IDAES analytic platform include performance monitoring and operational enhancement of a coal-fired power plant in New Mexico. Results from the IDAES modeling will be shared where IDAES was able to identify and suggest resolution of a pump surge problem that limited the low-load capability of the power plant. Dynamic modeling of plant load change identified the stresses induced in key plant equipment and enabled estimates of the equipment life consumption caused by different rates of load change.

The model of electric utility organizations has not successfully accommodated necessary investments in grid innovation. This session will explore pathways to accelerate grid modernization and innovation through evolved models of grid operators. Lessons from the Utility Business Model Working Group discussion that Grid Forward co-organizes with SEPA, Grid Wise Alliance, and EPRI will be leveraged.

In many countries coal power plants desiring to remain in operation must consider not only heat rate improvements, but also their flexibility to provide a backbone for expanded renewable energy generation portfolios. Falling under the umbrella term of “decarbonization,” there are many unknowns regarding the best paths forward. While heat rate and cycling/low-load improvement methods are well-known, there is a dearth of current reliable data on the potential benefits and costs of these methods. Thus, many plant owners and engineers rely upon outdated guidebooks and generic cost curves when assessing even high-level decarbonization options. Under the former EPA Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) Rule, Black & Veatch conducted detailed heat rate improvement studies on 98 US coal-fired units, as well as 37 other global non-ACE heat rate studies. The result is a database of more than 1,700 individual heat rate improvement projects studied across 135 units. Each study utilized detailed boiler and turbine modeling, plant equipment analysis, logistics of implementation, co-benefits and associated risk factors, and cost estimation. This data set is both timely and unique, and the anonymized data will support global coal decarbonization and flexibility improvement efforts. This presentation will offer key findings from this database, and highlight the most efficient and cost-effective options found across this fleet, including a focus upon heat rate improvement options that also support decarbonization strategies via improved cycling and low-load performance. Finally, this presentation will list the heat rate improvement options that were eventually selected for deployment by plant owners, with discussion as to why these options were chosen.