National Grid and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to Collaborate on Transmission Grid Modernization and Energy Storage Research
National Grid, a leading US transmission company, and the Department of
Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have entered into an
agreement to work together on research in the areas of transmission grid
modernization and energy storage technologies.
The electricity industry is undergoing sweeping changes, including
evolving customer expectations, proliferation of renewable and
distributed energy resources, and state energy policies that are
affecting what the transmission grid is being asked to do. Both parties
are focused on creating a robust, flexible, secure grid that will
deliver the nation’s clean, reliable, and affordable energy future. They
will collaborate on topics such as:
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Grid-scale energy storage;
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Advanced transmission network controls and monitoring;
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Integration of distributed and variable energy resources; and
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Enhanced grid cyber protection.
"I'd like to congratulate National Grid and PNNL on today's
announcement," said Secretary of Energy Rick Perry. "Innovation
partnerships with the private sector are critical to the groundbreaking
work our National Labs undertake. DOE is committed to the modernization,
reliability and resiliency of our grid and expanding energy storage
research and this partnership is a great example of that commitment."
“This collaboration is a natural outcome of our organizations’ mutual
goal to optimize the benefits and value the transmission network can
deliver to our customers, communities and country,” said Rudy Wynter,
president and COO of National Grid’s FERC-regulated Businesses. “We are
delighted to work with the experts at PNNL to make this vision a
reality.”
“A reliable and resilient electric grid is critical to our national and
economic security,” said PNNL Director Steven Ashby. “This agreement
with National Grid will explore how to best integrate new technologies,
like energy storage, onto the grid to improve grid reliability and
resiliency in the face of severe weather events, cyber threats, a
changing mix and types of electric generation, and the aging of the
electricity infrastructure.”
The agreement envisions several options for cooperative efforts such as
research opportunities; joint workshops, lectures, and symposia; and
other forums to promote enhancements in technology, education, and
industrial development related to grid modernization and energy storage.
National Grid and PNNL’s partnership stems from participation in a DOE
government/industry roundtable during the 2017 Earth Day Texas (EDTx)
Expo and Conference. Secretary Perry and Dr. Sanjiv Malhotra, Director
of DOE’s Energy Investor Center, sought to bring senior energy, utility
and investment executives together with Lab leadership to explore
potential areas of collaboration.
PNNL plays key leadership and research roles in DOE’s Grid Modernization
Laboratory Consortium, which is delivering new concepts and technologies
to better measure, analyze, predict and control the future power grid.
In the energy storage arena, PNNL’s research in vanadium redox flow
batteries has led to technology licensed by eight companies. And PNNL’s
grid cyber research includes work to establish information-sharing
capabilities for grid business information technologies, providing
situational awareness of cyber risks for the nation’s utilities.
About National Grid
National Grid (LSE: NG; NYSE: NGG) is an
electricity, natural gas, and clean energy delivery company that
supplies the energy for more than 20 million people through its networks
in New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. It is the largest
distributor of natural gas in the Northeast. National Grid also operates
the systems that deliver gas and electricity across Great Britain.
National Grid is transforming its electricity and natural gas networks
to support the 21st century digital economy with smarter, cleaner, and
more resilient energy solutions. Read more about the innovative projects
happening across our footprint in The
Democratization of Energy, an eBook written by National Grid’s US
president, Dean Seavers.
For more information please visit our website.
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About Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Interdisciplinary
teams at Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory address many of America's most
pressing issues in energy, the environment and national security through
advances in basic and applied science. Founded in 1965, PNNL employs
4,400 staff and has an annual budget of nearly $1 billion. It is managed
and operated by Battelle for
the U.S. Department of Energy's Office
of Science. As the single largest supporter of basic research in the
physical sciences in the United States, the Office of Science is working
to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more
information on PNNL, visit the PNNL
News Center, or follow PNNL on Facebook, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.
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