Telos Energy supports Idaho National Lab's TOGETs Task Force to evaluate the techno-economic benefits of Grid Enhancing Technologies
Telos Energy was founded, in part, on the idea that the engineering and economic planning of the power system should be more closely linked. Other disciplines find their way into the mix as well, including technology and policy, but an active project shines a bright light on Telos’ founding core capabilities. Telos Energy is a proud partner of the Idaho National Laboratory’s Transmission Optimization with Grid Enhancing Technologies (TOGETs) project, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Electricity (OE) and Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO). Telos Energy is performing a modeling effort aimed at linking reliability and economic analyses to identify candidate locations and economic benefits of power flow controllers (PFC) and dynamic line rating (DLR).
This work, which is the result of a 2022 Report to Congress on Ratepayer Impact of Grid Enhancing Technologies, provides an opportunity for Telos Energy to address integrated transmission planning by combining two software tools that are used throughout the industry. The figure below identifies the overlap in this project and showcases some of Telos’ key value proposition more broadly.
The tight coupling of engineering tools and market tools like TARA and PLEXOS is at the leading edge of the industry’s efforts to plan for an increasingly dynamic and technologically diverse grid while maintaining the reliability and economics we’ve come to expect from our power system.. The key insights here are gleaned from the pairing of traditionally disparate tools. Solutions identified in one model may be unnecessary in another. By pairing the two models in planning the power system, we are able to consider complex dynamics across a variety of dimensions throughout the process.
A key example of this pairing is in considering the deployment of power flow control (PFC) devices, like SmartWires' SmartValve.™ We have established a methodology that considers five dimensions of PFC placement: the (1) overloaded elements during (2) different contingencies at (3) different hours of the year that (4) have the highest impact on ratepayer costs and (5) consider the impact of other potential grid enhancing technologies.
Our modeling and simulation efforts are just one piece of the bigger INL TOGETs project, which also includes a field demonstration at Idaho National Lab and a suite of technical notes to support the inter-disciplinary issues that accompany new technology deployments. We are applying core capabilities in engineering and economic planning to assess how PFC and DLR could help bring gigawatts of offshore wind into the ISO-NE system to meet the region’s clean energy and policy goals. The study is un
derway to identify how these technologies could hel across the type of N-1 planning required to interconnect large amounts of new generation.
We are optimistic about applying the lessons learned in investigating GETs to an even more broad set of grid planning challenges facing the industry. Even without the pairing of these tools in future projects, the lessons learned would be useful in standalone projects as we have enhanced our expertise in the detailed settings required to validate the handoffs between the tools. For instance, the power flow solutions between the two tools utilize very different methodologies, but were able to converge on similar solutions through extensive testing in a test system. We are just scratching the surface of the benefits of this pairing and are excited about more opportunities to adapt industry’s existing tools to help plan the power system of tomorrow.
About Idaho National Laboratory
Battelle Energy Alliance manages INL for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy. INL is the nation’s center for nuclear energy research and development, and also performs research in each of DOE’s strategic goal areas: energy, national security, science and the environment. For more information, visit www.inl.gov. Follow us on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
About Telos Energy
Telos Energy is a leading power systems analytics and engineering firm, that specializes in wind, solar, battery storage, and high renewable power grids. Using highly detailed grid models and technology, we help our clients navigate a fast-changing, complex industry in order to accelerate their clean energy and emerging technology goals.
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