Track 1 – Agility and Resilience of Critical Energy Infrastructure

Organizer
Panelists
The Grid Modernization Initiative: Resilient Distribution Systems Portfolio Review
Tuesday, 16 February 2021
1:45 PM-2:15 PM EST

Session Chair: Kelly Yee, US Department of Energy
Session Co-Chair: Kevin Lynn, DOE		A reliable and resilient electric grid is critical not only to our national and economic security, but also to the everyday lives of American families. The electricity system must continue to evolve to address a variety of challenges and opportunities such as severe weather and the cyber threat, a changing mix of types of electric generation, the ability for consumers to participate in electricity markets, the growth of the Internet of Things, and the aging of the electricity infrastructure. As part of the Grid Modernization Initiative (GMI), the Energy Department announced funding in September 2017 of up to $32 million over three years to the Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium (GMLC) and their partners to advance resilient distribution systems, focusing on the integration of clean distributed energy resources (DER), advanced controls, grid architecture, and emerging grid technologies at a regional scale. This panel will review some of these projects that are either complete or nearly complete.

The Resilient Distribution Systems (RDS) Lab Call, which seeks to develop and validate innovative approaches to enhance the resilience of distribution systems, including microgrids, with high penetration of clean DERs. A variety of technological advancements will be tested in rigorous field validations including control/coordination strategies, real-time system monitoring, robust communications infrastructure, grid planning and analytical platforms, and integration of multiple DER technologies. In addition, resilient distribution systems require advancements in cybersecurity technologies so that innovative grid technologies are designed from the earliest stages to survive a cyber-incident. The project results are expected to deliver credible information on technical and economic viability of integrated solutions as well as demonstrate viability to key stakeholders who are ultimately responsible for making grid modernization investments.

Topics will include resiliency in different topologies and environments, resiliency considerations at different points of the energy system, and the impact of these projects in the real-world.


  • K. LYNN, DOE, The Grid Modernization Initiative: Resilient Distribution Systems Portfolio Review

  • K. SCHNEIDER, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Resilient Distribution Systems: Flexible DER and Microgrid Assets Enabled by OpenFMB

  • R. HOVSAPIAN, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Resilient Distribution Systems: RADIANCE

  • E. STEWART, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Resilient Distribution Systems: CleanStart DERMS

  • V. DONDE , Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Resilient Distribution Systems: CleanStart DERMS
Modeling and Simulation to Support the Resiliency of the Electric Grid
Tuesday, 16 February 2021
2:15 PM - 2:45 PM EST

Session Chair: Sharon Allan, SEPA		This panel will share lessons learned from a 3-year DOE project to create a system with architecture, algorithms, and control frameworks leading to best-practices for a resilient and secure power grid with an increasing penetration of renewable DERs. In moving to high penetration renewable generation, the power grid faces major challenges in cyber security and stability. Faster-than-real-time (FTRT), time series analysis (i.e., the time series analysis into the future is finished within the measurement sampling interval) of accurate power system models, in conjunction with bellwether measurements from across the grid, can provide the intelligence needed for rapidly detecting abnormalities, including cyber security breaches, and for managing voltage stability with rapidly changing generation. The advanced modeling and analytics will show that grid abnormalities and cybersecurity breaches can be discovered quicker than operational data alone. These models, techniques, and analysis will bolster grid resiliency and reliability. The team will talk about power flow analysis of accurate power system models that encompass, transmission, substations, primary distribution, and secondary distribution including time series analysis customer load and DERs. They will share how modeling from transmission through distribution to customer can be done and how accurate models can inform operations. Whereas past computation of large models has been compute intensive and time consuming the team will talk about the techniques that make this practical.

  • Sharon Allan, SEPA, Faster than Realtime Simulation: Preparing for DERs

  • Robert Broadwater, EDD, Faster than Realtime Simulation: Preparing for DERs

  • Steven Tyler, DVI, Faster than Realtime Simulation: Preparing for DERs

  • Luan Watson, Exelon, Faster than Realtime Simulation: Preparing for DERs

  • Skip Dise, Clean Power Research, Faster than Realtime Simulation: Preparing for DERs
Cybersecurity Verification & Validation Testing for Energy Delivery Systems – Stakeholder Perspectives and Technical Approaches
Tuesday, 16 February 2021
2:45 PM - 3:15 PM EST

Session Chair: Aditya Ashok, PNNL
Session co-Chair: Seemita Pal, PNNL
As the complexity and connectivity of energy delivery systems (EDS) increase, the associated cybersecurity requirements to ensure their safe and reliable operation also increases. Therefore, it becomes extremely critical to perform a thorough verification and validation (V&V) of EDS products that help monitor, operate, and control our critical U.S. energy infrastructure. A securely developed and appropriately tested product can enhance the security, reliability and resilience of the overall system, and ensure its ability to withstand and survive sophisticated cyber threats. There are a few operational standards like NERC CIP that address cybersecurity aspects in bulk electric system (BES) operations. However, there seems to be a lack of a widely accepted, cybersecurity-focused V&V framework that can be adopted from the beginning of a product’s lifecycle to effectively develop and test the cybersecurity of the operational technology equipment used in the electricity infrastructure, which includes BES as well as distribution systems. In this panel, we intend to bring together a panel of subject matter experts representing the product vendors, energy utilities, and national labs. Each of the panelists being key energy sector stakeholders will talk about their unique perspectives on the needs, opportunities, technical approaches, and available resources such as standards, tools, and techniques for cybersecurity V&V testing of energy delivery systems. We anticipate our panel to provide a synthesis of much needed and valuable technical information on this critical and important topic to advance the overall cybersecurity and reliability of EDS.


  • S. MIX, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, The Role of Standards in the V&V Process

  • N. WALLACE, Cybirical, Standardizing the Documentation and Testing of Power System Cybersecurity

  • D. ISHCHENKO, Hitachi ABB Power Grids, Enhancing security of grid automation products and solutions throughout the entire lifestyle

  • C. HSU, National Rural Electric Cooperatives Association (NRECA), After Purchase: Building V&V Processes and Tools for Utilities
Power System Transformation and Cyber Security
Tuesday, 16 February 2021
3:15 PM - 3:45 PM EST

Session Chair:Jianwei (Jay) Liu, PJM		Localized technology adoption and cyber security are two important areas in the ongoing power system transformations toward high efficient, sustainable and resilient power grids. At this panel, members from IEEE Standard Association (SA), IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES), and IEEE Industry Application Society (IAS) will present their recent work on assessing viewpoints and trends in the next generation energy (renewables, energy storage, distributed energy resource (DER), energy efficiency, and grid modernization, etc.), based on recent global system operator survey and research on the subjects. Officers from the Global Power Systems Transformation (G-PST) Consortium will provide introductory overview on the consortium activities. Experts from industry and regulatory offices will highlight the importance of cyber security in grid operation.

  • B. O'NEILL, NREL, An Overview of Global Power Systems Transformation (G-PST) Consortium

  • S. COX, NREL, An Overview of Global Power Systems Transformation (G-PST) Consortium

  • J. (. LIU, PJM, IEEE System Operator Survey (Part 1) - System Operator Strategic Technical Priorities

  • R. SCHUBERT, IEEE SA, IEEE System Operator Survey (Part 2) – Localized Technology Adoption and Standards

  • W-J LEE, The University of Texas at Arlington, Power System Transformation - The Role of Industrial Sector

  • M. LUIKEN, IEEE MGA, Sustainable Energy and Its Role in the Global Power System Transformation

  • A. CLARK-GINSBERG, RAND, Regulating Cyber Security Risks: Incentives and the CIP Standards

  • D. DEFALAISE, FERC, Roles of Federal Cybersecurity Offices within FERC
Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) for Power System Resilience
Tuesday, 16 February 2021
4:00 PM - 4:30 PM EST

Session Chair: Feng Qiu, Argonne National Laboratory		AI/ML has been extremely successful in a number of areas, such as image processing. In power systems, AI/ML has been applied in load/renewable forecasting, intrusion detection, customer behavior analysis, etc. This panel will focus on how AI/ML can leveraged for power system situational awareness and resilience, which is especially challenging due to the low probability and high impact of the events concerning system resilience. We will discuss how AI/ML can be utilized to improve the core capabilities of system resilience, including situational awareness, preparedness, responsiveness, and recovery. AI/ML with real-world data and cutting-edge techniques will be discussed. We hope this panel discussion can help audience better understand the roles of AI/ML can play in enhancing system resilience in a systematic way.

  • Q. HUANG, PNNL, Accelerated deep reinforcement learning for grid emergency control

  • A. XAVIER, ANL, Accelerating Power Systems Optimization with Learning-Enhanced Integer Programming

  • Z. WANG, Iowa State, Mining Outage Data to Enhance Power Distribution Grid Resilience

  • Y. XIE, Georgia Institute of Technology, Solar Ramping Event Prediction Via Spatio-Temporal Process

  • Y. ZHANG, Argonne National Laboratory, Hybrid Imitation Learning for Real-Time Service Restoration in Resilient Distribution Systems
Advanced Computational Methods and Tools for Power System Resilience Analysis
Tuesday, 16 February 2021
4:30 PM - 5:00 PM EST

Session Chair: Rui Yao, Argonne National Laboratory		Due to the challenges of natural disasters, growing system loading levels and increasing penetration of variable generation resources in the power system, power system resilience is more and more important. The resilience assessment and decision support pose various challenges in terms of interdependency modeling, computational efficiency and scalability, uncertainty quantification, etc. This panel will introduce novel computation methods and tools for resilience analysis and discuss how they could be utilized into the system operations and planning for routine resilience analysis. The panelists will deliver diversified presentations that cover important issues regarding power system resilience, such as situational awareness, online security analysis, new robust computational approaches and tools and interdependency between power systems with other energy systems.



  • M. VAIMAN, V&R Energy, Improving Power System Resilience through the Use of Advanced Methods and Software Tools

  • H. CUI, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Hybrid Symbolic Numeric Framework for Power System Modeling and Analysis

  • N. DUAN, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Piecing Things Together: A Cyber-Physical Perspective on Power System Resilience

  • R. YAO, Argonne National Laboratory, Novel semi analytical computation approaches for power grid resilience analysis and enhancement
Lessons Learnt from Implementing Big Data and Artificial Intelligence Technologies for Utility Asset Management & Predictive Maintenance
Tuesday, 16 February 2021
5:00 PM - 5:30 PM EST

Session Chair: Shishir Shekhar, MathWorks Inc USA
Session Co-Chair: Michael Dolan, MathWorks Inc USA		The use of AI techniques is growing in popularity across electric utilities sector for asset management, demand response, outage management, customer services, energy storage, renewable resources, and many other areas in the power generation and delivery system. The Gartner report said, “Four years ago, AI implementation was rare, only 10% of survey respondents reported that their enterprises had deployed AI or would do so shortly. For 2019, that number has leapt to 37% — a 270% increase in four years.”

This panel will bring together Industry experts from different backgrounds (R&D, Manufacturers, Utilities and Technology Providers) to discuss various aspects of Big Data, Predictive Analytics, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence technologies for developing Utility Asset Management/ Predictive Maintenance solutions. Topics that will be discussed in the panel includes, but not limited to:

  • Application of Machine Learning technologies for health monitoring of distribution transformers

  • Use of Artificial Intelligence technologies for Signal Waveform Classification in Partial Discharge Applications for Underground Power Cables

  • Grid Fault Location Detection Using System Simulation and Machine Learning

  • Case Studies from projects that implemented AI technologies for Asset Health Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance

  • Lessons Learnt, Challenges and the future of use AI technologies in Power & Energy Industry



  • S. ZIEGLER, IMCORP USA, Signal Waveform Classification in Partial Discharge Applications for Underground Power Cables

  • S. SHEKHAR, MathWorks Inc USA,Signal Waveform Classification in Partial Discharge Applications for Underground Power Cables

  • G. DUDGEON, MathWorks Inc USA9, Grid Fault Location Detection Using System Simulation and Machine Learning

  • P. BRUNELLE, Hydro Quebec Canada, Grid Fault Location Detection Using System Simulation and Machine Learning
Offshore Wind – Opportunities & Barriers
Tuesday, 16 February 2021
5:30 PM - 6:00 PM EST

Session Chair:Ahad Esmaeilian, Avangrid		Across the world GWs of offshore wind has been constructed and operational, including recent exponential progress at US east coast. In addition, the recent advancement and price reduction in floating wind technology has triggered activities across the World and in West Coast US, particularly in CA, during past 3-4 years.

This panel will bring leaders of the Offshore Wind Industry from different backgrounds (regulatory & planning, manufacturers and developers, etc.) together to discuss various aspects and considerations regarding current and future states of offshore wind technology. The scope of this panel includes, but not limited to:

  • Offshore Wind Turbine Technology Advancement

  • Environmental, Economic and Public Considerations

  • Policy, Regulation and Legislative Considerations

  • Siting, Construction & Operation Considerations

  • Transmission Backbone Investment Considerations

  • Examples of Operational Offshore Wind Projects



  • E. THUMMA, Avangrid, TBD

  • B. GESCHIER, IDEOL, TBD

  • S. GLATZ, PJM Interconnection, TBD

Track 2 – Innovation and Adoption of New Grid Technologies

Organizer
Panelists
A Roundtable Discussion of the DOE GMI Strategy Document: A 5-year Plan for Grid Modernization
Wednesday, 17 February 2021
1:15 PM-1:45 PM EST

Session Chair: Kevin Lynn, DOE
Session Co-Chair: Kelly Yee, US Department of Energy		The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Grid Modernization Initiative (GMI) is updating their GMI Strategy Document and would like feedback. The document defines a vision for the modern grid and identifies key challenges and opportunities, and will describe DOE's grid modernization RD&D strategy over the next five years. The direction and priorities outlined in the GMI Strategy Document draw upon DOE’s ongoing work of five Applied Research offices--Office of Electricity, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Office of Fossil Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy, and Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response.

  • K. LYNN, DOE, TBD

  • C. IRWIN, U.S. Department of Energy, Grid Modernization Initiative: Looking into the Future
Distribution System Operators, Platforms and Markets
Wednesday, 17 February 2021
1:45 PM - 2:15 PM EST

Session Chair: Farrokh Rahimi, OATI		The electric industry landscape is changing due to a number of factors including increasing penetration of variable energy resources (VER) at the bulk power system level and distributed energy resources (DERs) at the grid edge. New players are emerging on the scene including prosumers, Aggregators, Community Choice Aggregations (CCAs), microgrid operators, just to name a few. As a result the traditional interactions and interfaces of distribution system operation are changing, vis-à-vis the consumers on the one hand, and with the bulk power/transmission/wholesale market operations on the other. This is leading to expansion of the traditional role and responsibilities of distribution operation, and the need for new processes, procedures, tools and regulatory frameworks to support and structure the emerging high-DER distribution system. The term Distribution System Operator (DSO) is often used to refer to the entity responsible for management of the emerging distribution system under a regulatory framework that facilitates robust distribution-level markets, including peer-to-peer, peer-to-market and third-party (e.g., aggregator) transactive exchanges. The term Distribution System Platform (DSP) is used for the associated hardware/software/communication infrastructure needed for DSO operations.
In this panel session the leading industry and academic experts will share their recent work and experience with the emerging DSO/DSP initiatives.


  • A. IPAKCHI, OATI, Utility operational and business challenges and opportunities in high DER penetration paradigm

  • M. SHAHIDEHPOUR, IIT, Market-based integration of Grid-edge assets in system operations

  • L. KRISTOV, Electric System Policy, Structure, Market Design, What’s a DSO Supposed to Do?

  • A. RENJIT, EPRI, TSO/DSO Coordination Functions for DER Management
Blockchain-Enabled Transactive Energy Systems
Wednesday, 17 February 2021
2:15 PM - 2:45 PM EST

Session Chair: Farrokh Rahimi, OATI		This panel will give an overview of the cross section between Transactive Energy and blockchain technology. It will include panelists from the IEEE, utilities, transactive energy and cybersecurity researchers and industry participants addressing the key technologies, use cases, initiatives and standards being developed by to advance Blockchain in Energy, focused on grid-edge participation and grid modernization. Panel session topics include, blockchain-based transactive energy systems, utility blockchain applications, blockchain for enhanced cybersecurity, and “blockchain in energy” framework, modelling and standards development. Representative use cases, sample pilot projects, and field implementation experiences will be discussed.

  • U. CALI, NTNU, Recent Advances in Blockchain Transactive Energy

  • C. LIMA, IEEE Blockchain in Energy Chair, IEEE P2418.5 Blockchain in Energy Standards

  • S. N. G. GOURISETTI, PNNL, Blockchain for Grid Cyber Security

  • E. ESCOBAR-FERNANDEZ, Duke Energy, Utility Blockchain Transactive Energy Applications
Emerging IoT and Blockchain Technologies for Power System Operation and Control
Wednesday, 17 February 2021
2:45 PM - 3:15 PM EST

Session Chair: Zhehan Yi, GEIRI North America
Session Chair: Le Xie, Texas A&M University		As a rapidly increasing number of distributed resources (e.g., controllable loads, DERs, energy storages, etc.) are being deployed in power systems, their values and impacts on the electric power systems, especially from the perspectives of operation and control, remain to be explored. Particularly, IoT and Blockchain technologies have enabled the distributed resources to participate in power system operation and control as transactive energy, serving both the grids and customers. This panel session aims to discuss the emerging IoT and Blockchain technologies and their applications in modern power systems that could bring remarkable benefits to the smart grid. Specifically, the discussion will focus on how these technologies are applied in terms of power system control. We will explore these technologies from both industrial and academic points of view, discuss how they are improving and motivating the smart grid development, as well as emerging challenges from actual engineering cases and their solutions. The proposed session will include four presentations, followed by a Q&A after each presentation, and an open panel discussion


  • L. XIE, Texas A&M University, A privacy-preserving data-driven framework for demand response from thermal inertial loads

  • B. YANG, Hitachi America, Challenges and solutions of energy IoT platforms for DER integrations

  • Y. XIANG, GEIRI North America, IoT and Blockchain-enabled distributed controllable resources integration for power systems control

  • M. MORALES-RODRIGUEZ, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, A demonstration of a Blockchain platform for data security, integrity and immutability of utilities operational technology
DERMS Analytical Solutions Creating Flexibility and Reliability
Wednesday, 17 February 2021
3:30 PM-4:00 PM EST

Session Chair: Ebrahim Vaahedi, OATI		With the high penetration of renewables in the distribution systems, many utilities are resorting to DERMS solutions to manage system reliability and harness the flexibility benefits provided. This panel session focuses on the analytical tools required for DERMS to achieve its objectives.


  • A. IPAKCHI, OATI, An Aggregator Solution to Provide Grid Services to HECO

  • B. R. Cobb, Ernst and Young, A Distributed Energy Challenge
Industry Intersections: Digital Transformation in the Utility and DER Space
Wednesday, 17 February 2021
4:00 PM - 4:30 PM EST

Session Chair: Kyle Haas, K&A Engineering Consulting		In a world that consistently demands improvements in outage management, clean energy, connected customers, and every topic in between, the industry is evolving. From analytics in asset management, to customer outage portals, DER management to FLISR - digital technologies are enabling utilities to do more with less.

Join leaders from major utilities, regulatory commissions, and industry groups to learn how digital transformation is changing the way the grid works today. We'll focus on the people, processes, and technologies that present new opportunities - and new challenges - for the professionals in the control center, field, and corporate headquarters.

A critical factor in the successful transition to a more sustainable, reliable and affordable energy system are the IT and OT systems that provide, interpret and act on data. These systems help operators make better decisions, reduce the amount of time spent on repetitive tasks, save customers money and helps to integrate more distributed energy into the grid.

Both utilities and DER developers are implementing new technologies to achieve the energy system identified above. In many instances, these systems will need to work together (or at least in parallel) to keep the lights on. This panel will investigate the technologies, policies, standards, and future of both the US and international energy markets.


  • K. HAAS, K&A Engineering, Industry Intersections: Digital Transformation in the Utility & DER Space

  • M. GILLETT, Connecticut PURA, Regulatory Futures: Clean & Digital

  • P. MILLER, Versant Power, New England Utilitity Operations

  • R. MANNING, Avangrid, US Utility Operations

  • K. LUCAS, Solar Energy Industry Association, Smart, Clean Energy
Improving Grid Resilience/Reliability with Solid-State Transformers and Dynamic Optimization
Thursday, 18 February 2021
3:30 PM - 4:00 PM EST

Session Chair: Karina Munoz-Ramos, Sandia National Laboratories		The goal of this panel session is to present ongoing work at Sandia National Laboratories focused on improving grid resilience and reliability, specifically using Solid-State Transformers and Dynamic Optimization techniques. Three presentations will detail ongoing work and share results for two different multi-year projects. Discussion following the presentations will allow attendees to share ideas and generate possible collaboration opportunities.

  • B. PIERRE, Sandia National Labs, Grid Resilience Optimization while Considering Initial Transient Response and Long-term Restoration

  • D. SCHOENWALD, Sandia National Labs, Wide-Area Controls Using Solid-State Transformers to Improve Grid Resilience

  • M. HOFFMAN, Sandia National Labs, Dynamic Stochastic Optimization for Wide-area Emergency Resilience
Competitive Transmission Planning: From Constructability to Success
Thursday, 18 February 2021
4:00 PM - 4:30 PM EST

Session Chair: Jianwei (Jay) Liu, PJM		Through the recent global survey by IEEE, Infrastructure Planning is the most reported business strategy of smart grid technology implementations, with its nature of high capital cost and long term impact in the power grids. Under FERC Order 1000, the US power industry is implementing competitive planning process throughout the industry to achieve high economical solutions with technical advances. Through the first group of awarded competitive planning projects, RTOs, incumbent Transmission Owners and designated entities have been working together to explore the process of introducing competitiveness into the infrastructure planning business, identify the optimized solution with sound economic advantages, utilize the advanced technologies, as well as collaboratively work with regulatory agencies and stakeholders at large through constructability analysis to implementation. This panel will be the first IEEE PES panel to review the successes of competitive planning projects by the planners and project managers.


  • J. LIU, PJM, Competitive Transmission Planning: From Constructability to Success

  • M. SIMS, PJM, An Overview of Competitive Planning at PJM

  • X. LUO, ISO New England Inc, Competitive Transmission Planning in ISO New England

  • L. WILLICK, LS Power, Implementation of competitive planning projects – LS Power’s experiences

  • D. RUPERT, Transource, Competitive Planning - Transource's Experiences
Transactive Energy Systems for Resiliency Applications
Thursday, 18 February 2021
4:30 PM - 5:00 PM EST

Session Chair: Bishnu Bhattarai, PNNL		Over the past few years, the application of transactive energy systems (TES) during normal grid operations has been explored extensively. However, the application of TES for abnormal grid operating conditions, such as contingencies, has not been explored much. The TES designed for economic operations may not work directly during such contingency situations because grid contingencies are often driven by the criticality of service restoration. Since power system operations involve risks and uncertainties ranging from forecast errors to natural disasters (e.g., hurricanes, tornados, cyber-attacks) which can potentially affect large portions of the system, proper TES designs that can engage DERs during grid abnormal grid operating conditions can add many benefits for both DERs and system operators. This panel will bring expertise from national laboratories, industry, and academia to discuss a) whether TES can be used as resiliency resource, b) what must happen for a transactive energy system to change course to apply TES during resiliency events.


  • C. IRWIN, U.S. Department of Energy, Transactional Approaches to Resiliency: Challenges and Opportunities

  • F. RAHIMI, OATI, Reliability and Resilience considerations in Transactive Energy Systems

  • B. BHATTARAI, PNNL, Application of Transactive Energy System during Grid Contingencies

  • A. ANNASWAMY, MIT, The role of IoT Networks for resilience in power grids

  • M. BAGGU, NREL, Federated Architecture for Secure and Transactive Distributed Energy Resource Management Solutions

  • T. KURUGANTI, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Scalable Methods for Engaging Demand Flexibility to Improve Grid Resilience
Towards Cost-effective and Resilient Microgrids
Thursday, 18 February 2021
5:00 PM - 5:30 PM EST

Session Chair: Di Wu, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory		Recent developments and advances in distributed energy resources (DERs) make them more affordable, accessible, and prevalent in microgrids. This panel session focuses on the latest research activities and projects on DER sizing, assessment, operational scheduling, and control in the context of microgrid, considering benefits from perspectives of economics and resilience. Speakers in this panel session will share lessons learned to date and discuss challenges and gaps in microgrid design and operation.


  • L. KHAIR, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Achieving Resiliency in Rural America

  • D. WU, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, A Chance-Constrained Two-Stage Stochastic Approach for Microgrid Component Sizing

  • N. LU, North Carolina State University, Cost-effective and Resilient Microgrids Powered by PV and Mobile Energy Storage Systems

  • Z. NI, Florida Atlantic University, Artificial Intelligence and Reinforcement Learning for Microgrid Energy Management Systems

  • A. DAS, Florida Atlantic University, Artificial Intelligence and Reinforcement Learning for Microgrid Energy Management Systems
Technological Advancements for Large Scale Adoption of Smart-Inverters
Thursday, 18 February 2021
5:30 PM - 6:00 PM EST

Session Chair: Reinaldo Tonkoski, South Dakota State University
Session Chair: Rodrigo Trevizan, Sandia National Laboratories

The difficulty in maintaining dynamic power balance and the increased investment and operational costs to improve power quality and reliability are the main bottlenecks to achieving high penetration of renewable energy sources. Smart inverters are envisioned as the enabling technology for the reliable, sustainable, and cost-effective integration of renewable energy sources and energy storage into power systems. Smart inverters can provide support to maintain power quality and stability of the electric grid under a high penetration level of renewable energy. However, technological and economic roadblocks still slow down adoption of advanced control features in smart inverters. This panel session aims to discuss the main advancements of smart inverter design, control, and operation. In addition, this panel session addresses economic challenges in the way of providing services from smart inverters to power systems.


  • R. BYRNE, Sandia National Laboratories, Capturing the Value of Inverter-based Resources

  • P. CICILIO, Alaska Center for Energy and Power (ACEP), Modeling of Smart Inverters for Power System Dynamic Studies

  • U. TAMRAKAR, Sandia National Laboratories, Smart Inverter Functions and Features for Power System State Estimation

  • F. ANDRADE, University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez, Stability Analysis of Converter Dominated Power Systems

Robust Distribution System State Estimation for Grid Visibility and Resiliency with High Penetration of DERs: Roles, Challenges and Use Cases
Thursday, 18 February 2021
6:00 PM - 6:30 PM EST

Session Chair: Junbo Zhao, Mississippi State University		With the increasing penetration of DERs, responsive loads, and microgrids, the development of a reliable and resilient power distribution system has become one of the main research topics. However, the stochastic nature of these new active resources along with the insufficient sensing, communication, and management capabilities of existing legacy distribution systems bring serious challenges for their planning, monitoring, operation, and control. In fact, current power distribution systems have very limited visibility beyond the HV/MV substations and the primary feeders. As a result, the utility planners and operators have to rely mainly on historical data and the limited system information and sensing to make operational decisions. Although there is a trend in using the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) information that is currently being deployed to improve system situational awareness, the meter readings are mainly for billing, load management or for energy consumption displays in homes. Furthermore, due to the lack of system observability, the grid operator is unable to monitor the security posture of the growing numbers of smart PV inverters/DGs/flexible loads owned and operated at many consumer and utility locations. To achieve a certain level of reliability and fast restoration, especially for the critical loads, when the system is subject to normal outages as well as low-probability but high-impact events such as ice storms, hurricanes, and flooding, to cite a few, system situational awareness enabled by advanced sensors along with DSSE-based fast and reliable control actions are needed. This panel aims to discuss thoroughly the roles, challenges, and use cases of DSSE in enhancing the grid situational awareness and resiliency. Practical experiences on DSSE implementations will be shared.


  • K. CELIK, Department of Energy, Observability Issues and Challenges for Distribution State Estimation

  • C. ROCHA, EPRI, Monitoring Requirements for State Estimation to Improve Distribution Visibility with DER

  • B. DEAVER, EPRI, Monitoring Requirements for State Estimation to Improve Distribution Visibility with DER

  • N. HEINE, EPRI, Monitoring Requirements for State Estimation to Improve Distribution Visibility with DER

  • A. MELHORN, EPRI, Monitoring Requirements for State Estimation to Improve Distribution Visibility with DER

  • M. VAIMAN, V&R Energy, PMU-based Real-Time Distribution System Monitoring Platform

  • Y. ZHANG, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Matrix and Tensor Completion for Distribution System State Estimation

Track 3 – Distributed Grid-Edge and Behind-the-Meter Technologies

Organizer
Panelists
Grid Edge Measurements to Improve Distribution System Modeling and Analysis
Thursday, 18 February 2021
1:15 PM - 1:45 PM EST

Session Chair: Matthew Reno, Sandia National Laboratories		New sensor measurements such as advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and distribution phasor measurement unit (PMU) provide an unprecedented level of insight into the distribution system. These measurements from the grid edge provide large quantities of data that can facilitate a variety of use cases. Use cases include model validation/correction such as phase identification, meter to transformer pairing, and topology reconfiguration detection, behind-the-meter analysis such as PV parameter estimation and load disaggregation, control opportunities, and system analysis. Research continues to determine what analysis is possible with grid edge measurements, what the data requirements are for different applications, and what concerns there may be, such as privacy, related to the collection of customer data. The panel will bring together speakers from industry and academia to share their perspectives on the applications of grid edge data and present a selection of state-of-the-art techniques for harnessing the Big Data from emerging data streams for distribution system modeling and analysis.


  • Z. WANG, Iowa State University, Mining Smart Meter Data to Enhance Distribution System Observability

  • L. BLAKELY, Sandia National Laboratories, Calibrating Distribution Models Using AMI Data

  • F. THERRIEN, Eaton, Phase Identification for Distribution Systems

  • S. GRIJALVA, Georgia Institute of Technology, Estimation of PV Systems Based on Voltage Measurements

  • N. YU, UCR, Improve Distribution Grid Visibility with Machine Learning Algorithms
Microgrid Deployments and Lessons Learned
Thursday, 18 February 2021
1:45 PM - 2:15 PM EST

Session Chair: Ebrahim Vaahedi, OATI		Microgrids provide resiliency, reliability, efficiency and economic benefits. With the increasing penetration of microgrids, this panel session explores the deployment of microgrids and elaborates on lessons learned.


  • J. MARKWARD, Johnson Controls, Business Requirement for a Microgrid at an Educational Campus

  • M. AHMED, SEL, Normal Day Operation Controller at an Educational Campus

  • E. VAAHEDI, E. AMUNDSON, OATI, Grid Services Operation at an Educational Campus

  • M. SHAHIDEHPOUR, Illinois Institute of Technology, Deployment of Microgrids
EV-fleet as VPP for V2G services to the Grid
Thursday, 18 February 2021
2:15 PM - 2:45 PM EST

Session Chair: Ashkan Rahimi Kian, I-EMS Group Ltd		In this panel, the EV and EVSE business developers and academic researchers will talk about how regional electricity system operators (ISO’s), power utilities (PU’s), net-zero community developers, EV car manufacturers, EVSE providers, EV car drivers and smart grid/city researchers could work closely together to design, develop and deploy the necessary electrical infrastructure, bi-directional EV chargers and cyber-secure transactive energy platforms for trading energy as G2V and V2G services among the EVSE’s, EV-fleet and distribution grid operators (e.g., DSO’s) to optimally manage the upcoming 10-20 GW of peak load growth, due to adding 20 million EV cars in USA, over the next decade.
The panel take away include:

  1. Assessment of the challenges and opportunities that 20 million EV cars will create over the next 10 years in north America.

  2. Review of current EV-fleet management, G2V trading services and EVSE management platforms.

  3. Solution proposals in terms of R&D, hardware/software development, electrical infrastructure and transactive energy platform development, testing and deployment as numerous pilot and proof-of-concept (POC) across north America.




  • M. SHAHIDEHPOUR, Illinois Institute of Technology, Coordinated Planning of Electric Power and Transportation Networks for Managing the Proliferation of Electric Vehicles

  • C. CLAIRMAN, Plug'n Drive, EV Batteries Value Proposition for the Grid and for EV Owners

  • M. EROL-KANTARCI, University of Ottawa, V2G Services for Connected Autonomous EV Fleets in Smart Cities

  • Z. LEFEVRE, ChargeLab, Interoperable Smart Charging and Open Protocols
Enhancing Grid Resilience Through Advanced Grid Sensor and Analytics Tools
Thursday, 18 February 2021
2:45 PM - 3:15 PM EST

Session Chair: Eric Lightner, DOE
Session Chair: James Ogle, PNNL
The nation’s electric power system is undergoing a transformation driven by multiple factors including integration of distributed energy resources (DERs), a shift to more variable renewable power generation, greater availability of energy storage, and aging infrastructure. The result is an increasingly complex and dynamic grid where grid operators require greater visibility and coordination across all levels of the power system spanning transmission, distribution, distributed resources, and behind-the-meter assets. At the same time, natural and man-made threats to the power system have multiplied challenging the resiliency of the grid. Many strategies to offer enhanced resiliency when the grid is fragmented due to a severe event depend on local coordination of distributed resources such as networked microgrids. Maintaining the stability and resiliency of this dynamic grid requires access to advanced sensor data where and when it is needed.

In response to these needs, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Electricity is conducting research and development of advanced grid sensors and analytics. The goal is to develop and deploy high-fidelity, fast-acting sensor technologies and advanced data analytics throughout the nation’s modernized, electric generation, transmission, and distribution systems to enable timely diagnosis, prediction, and prescription of all system variables and assets, during normal and extreme-event conditions. In this panel, several projects from this program will be discussed. These projects are developing software tools that utilize data from a variety of physical, electrical, and ambient-condition parameters from sensors to gain operational insights that can support the grid operations and planning. The tools are designed to continually process the available data in an online fashion to detect and react to the fast-changing conditions of a dynamic grid. They follow a distributed architecture to provide local observability as well as control in centralized, distributed, or fragmented grid states. With these capabilities, the tools are a foundational enablers to grid visibility and observability supporting advanced applications for grid capabilities such as distributed grid state estimation and control, dynamic protection, situational awareness and analytics, fault prediction and characterization, and DER integration.

  • J. TAFT, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Grid Observability and Sensor Placement Optimization Tool

  • S. KUNDU, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Continual Harmonics-Enhanced Load Modeling (HELM) for Emerging Power Grid

  • A. REIMANN, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Continual Rediscovery of Distribution Grid Topology Tool