Meeting Highlights
The Center for Advanced Power Engineering and Research (CAPER) is a collaboration among three universities and industry members focusing on research and educational needs in the electric power industry in the southeast region of the US. CAPER holds two General Meetings each year, spring and fall, each hosted by a member University. In attendance are CAPER researchers and students along with industry and government representatives to present current industry topics, update sponsored projects and take part in discussions about the Center’s research and education activities.
We wish to thank Dr. Johan Enslin, CAPER Center Co-Director at Clemson University, for hosting this hybrid meeting. Special thanks go to Shannon Jenkins for all the many arrangements that were required for this meeting. We also wish to thank our Industry Members, Faculty, Guests and Students for participating in the General Meeting.
Meeting Theme:
“Rapid Decarbonization Impacts on the Electric Grid”
Location:
The meeting took place at Clemson University Main Campus (Watt Family Innovation Center) and virtually using Zoom.
Attendees:
In-Person Attendance: Faculty Members – 12, Industry Guest – 9, Industry Members – 8, Students – 13
Virtual Attendance: Faculty Members – 10, Industry Guest – 9, Industry Members – 11, Students – 19
Total Registrations (91): Faculty Members – 22, Industry Guest – 18, Industry Members – 19, Students – 32
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2022
The meeting began at 7:50 am with a Welcome by Dr. Hai Xiao, ECE Dept. Chair of Clemson University.
Steve Whisenant, Chair of CAPER Steering Committee opened the meeting with a warming welcome to those in attendance and an appreciation of those online. Steve presented a background on CAPER and sharing of In the News.
Plenary Session – The Zero Carbon Grid of the Future led by Dr. Johan Enslin, Center Co-Director Clemson
John Gaertner with CRRG, opened the session stating that the transition to zero-carbon electric generation by 2050 is the most difficult challenge of our time. Planning, building and operating the system must undergo numerous changes to reach that goal.
Emily Felt, Duke Energy, stated the transition is being driven by the consumer large institutional investors. A major challenge is there is no National Policy driving the transition. Each state is legislating its own policies which makes it difficult for utilities operating in multiple states. In closing, Emily showed us what a ZELFR really is as illustrated by her 12-year-old daughter. ZELFR stands for Zero-Carbon Load Following Resource.
Session I – Impacts Resulting from Change in Generation Mix led by Dr. Michael Mazzola Center Director UNC Charlotte
Dan Donochod, Duke Energy, shared his company’s generation strategy to zero carbon. Duke Energy has 54 GW generation capacity with nuclear providing 53% of total energy in GWh. Duke has retired 56 coal plants and will exit all coal generation by 2035. By 2030 the generation mix will be: Renewable Resources 25%, Nuclear 30%, Gas 40% and Coal 5%.
Next Trevor Turner, Duke Energy, described his company’s use of Pumped Storge Hydro and how it is used to complement intermittent renewables. Currently, Bad Creek Pumped Hydro is rated at 1320 MW and is being upgraded to 1700 MW. Duke is proposing to add a second powerhouse at Bad Creek to double the capacity. Trevor then explained how hydro plants can be operated in motor mode to provide system inertia and Var support.
The H2 Orange Project located on Clemson’s main campus was presented by Thomas Koeppe, Siemens Energy and Tony Putnam, Clemson. The Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant is operated by Duke Energy to serve the campus. For the future, there are plans to add hydrogen energy storage of 10 MWh.
Kris Eisenreith, Duke Energy, completed Session 1 with the perspective of a gas-fired generation operator. Solar is creating the most significant impacts to gas generation. Ramp rates have increased by 2 to 3 times normal. Impacts to the gas generation facilities include more thermal transients, non-ideal operating states, and frequent start-based maintenance. More frequent maintenance creates incremental O&M costs.
Session II – Impacts to Grid Operations led by Drew Clarke, V-Chair CAPER Industry Advisory Board
Kat Sico, Duke Energy, opened the session by describing new IEEE and NERC standards related to the interconnection of Inverter Based Resources (IBR) to the Bulk Power System (BPS). Kat described how transmission events can affect large amounts of DER. She then went on to describe the Odessa Event in ERCOT where a single-phase transmission line fault, cleared in 3 seconds, resulted in the loss of 1340 MW of solar and wind generation.
Clemson Professor, Dr. Kumar Venayagamoorthy, stated that the decentralized grid increases the complexity of managing the power system. New tools under development are SA, SI, AI and AM.
Next Matt Hammond, Dominion Energy, shared the issues and challenges of operating Dominion Energy’s South Carolina system with 20% PV. System Operators must develop new paradigms.
Adam Guin, Duke Energy, stated that situational awareness is a key. We also need better forecasting tools for load and PV generation.
David Larson, EPRI, discussed the need for probabilistic forecasting with degrees uncertainty.
Hisham Othman, Quanta Technology, closed the session by stating that future transmission and operational planning requires an integrated T&D model and a way to address the inertia response gaps.
Session III – CAPER Sponsored Sr. Design Project led by Steve Whisenant, Chair CAPER Steering Committee
Teams from Clemson and UNC Charlotte delivered their final presentations for their respective senior design projects.
Tour – Visit to the Duke Energy CHP plant on Clemson Campus
Reception at Clyde V. Madren Center, Ballroom Section A
Thursday, March, 24th, 2022
The meeting started at 8:00 am with highlights of day one and objectives for the day by CAPER Steering Committee Chair, Steve Whisenant.
Session IV – CAPER Project Updates led by Mike Mazzola, Center Director, UNC Charlotte
Base Projects:
| 8:05 – 8:25 am |
PG-02: Incorporating EV and EV Charging Stations into Integrated Resource Planning |
Dr. Linquan Bai
UNCC/Clemson |
| 8:25 – 8:45 am |
PG-03: AI based Arc Fault Detection for PV Systems |
Dr. Tiefu Zhao
UNCC/Clemson |
| 8:45 – 9:05 am |
PU-01: Comparative Power Flow Analysis and Power Flow Quality Criteria; EHP-08-PU: Comparative Power Flow and Phase III |
Dr. Valentina Cecchi
UNCC/NCSU |
| 9:05 – 9:25 am |
DM-03: Integrated Grid Operations System for Controlling and Monitoring IBR |
Dr. Johan Enslin
Clemson/NCSU |
|
Enhancement Projects: |
|
| 9:25 – 9:45am |
EHP-09-PG: DER Protection Guidelines and Settings |
Dr. Johan Enslin
Clemson/NCSU |
Session V – Impacts Resulting from Electrification of Transportation, led by Johan Enslin Center Co-Director, Clemson
Jay Oliver, Duke Energy, described how grid edge load is growing. EVs in South Carolina have increased 6% in last 12 months. By 2035 most auto manufacturers will only offer electric vehicles. The key is to simplify EV adoption and proactively prepare the grid. To simplify adoption is to make available public charging with low-cost plug & play options. Another key is controlling usage beyond the meter. We need customers that follow low carbon energy.
NC State Professor, Srdjan Lukic, discussed new charger technology and its impacts on the grid. New, fast DC chargers rated 350kW can recharge a car in 10 minutes.
Xiangqi Zhu, NREL, shared his insights and research on grid impacts of Heavy-Duty electric fleet vehicles. He envisions multi-port MW grid connected charging stations. To mitigate grid impacts may require PV and storage.
Session VI- Understanding the Impacts of Consumer & Community Behavior led Mike Mazzola, Center Director
Dr. Andreas Wagner, KIT, opened the session with a study in Germany of building occupants and levels of satisfaction resulting from a variety of control options.
Danielle Peoples, Duke Energy, stressed importance of public and community engagement in business decisions. Community likes options. Having a “Face” helps enhance the community experience.
Next Ulrike Passe, Iowa State University, discussed the Capital East Project and how it demonstrated that occupant behavior is the leading source of uncertainty in predicting building energy performance.
Tianzhen Hong, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, shared several human-oriented opportunities in decarbonization of buildings such as changes in level of services that use energy. For example, instead of using dryers, place wet clothes on an outdoor line to dry.
Omar Siddiqui, EPRI, discussed how estimating customer adoption of technologies to enable decarbonization is critical. Understanding customer choices is key.
The session concluded with Dr. Giuseppina Buttitta, A29 Energy Service Company of Italy, discussing the correlation of building heating demand to occupancy profiles.
Steven Whisenant closed the Spring General Meeting with an announcement of the fall meeting to be hosted by NC State University on November 9th – 10th, 2022 at the James B. Hunt Jr. Library.
CLOSED MEETING– IAB Members Meeting – Open to all attendees of companies that are Industry Members of CAPER.
The IAB heard presentations on each of the three proposals and prepared their recommendations to the Steering Committee. The IAB discussed several business items and will prepare a set of recommendations for the Steering Committee.
Presentations and Project Updates can be found by visiting www.caper-usa.com on the Members Only area of the website.
