Posts

DG Update

/0 Comments/in , /by

Has DG (distributed generation) gone quiet, or mainstream, or both?  Meanwhile, the DOE program has not done well in the proposed budget.  Congressional earmarks are taking up so much money that DOE is forced to cancel some ongoing DG applications projects.

 Here are some developments and updates.

 – DUIT Facility Up and Running 
 – CADER Meeting  Jan. 2004
 – IEEE 1547 Interconnection Standards
 – PG&E DG Interconnection program

            ^^^^^^^^^^^^

Distributed Utility Integration Test Facility

The Distributed Utility Integration Test (DUIT) is the first full-scale, integration test of commercial-grade, utility grid interactive Distributed Energy Resources (DER) in the U.S.  DUIT addresses a key technical issue: electrical implications of operating multiple, diverse DERs at high penetration levels within a utility distribution system.  DUIT’s test plan is intended to focus on grid interaction, integration and aggregation issues, not on DER technology itself. 

After an exhaustive study of program goals and alternative sites, DOE selected the facilities at PG&E’s Modular Generation Test Facility in San Ramon, CA as the home of the new DUIT Facility.  Pre existing buildings, labs and professional staff helped make the choice, along with the adjacent test substation and high-current yard.  The site held an official opening ceremony in August 2003.

The facility offers a realistic yet controlled laboratory environment, enabling  testing of normal and abnormal operational conditions without interfering with a customer’s electric service. DG equipment at the site is commercially available and all on loan to the project from the vendors:  Inverters, rotating machinery, and generation and storage devices. DUIT provides a full-scale multi-megawatt implementation, testing and demonstration of distributed generation technologies in a realistic utility installation.

Utilities may want to take note that DUIT will be confirming and testing to the newly passed IEEE 1547 Interconnection standard, which is expected to be adopted by a large number of state regulators and legislators. Similarly, for California, DUIT will  be testing to the Rule 21 document.

To inquire about prospective DUIT project participation, technical specifications, test plans, project plans or the DUIT white paper, contact the DUIT Project Team.  Reports will be issued by CEC and other sponsors beginning this Summer, and information will be available on the DUIT website:
        http://www.dua1.com/DUIT

Contact:
Susan Horgan, DUIT Project Leader
    Distributed Utility Associates
     925-447-0625      susan@dua1.com

For the complete history:
"DUIT: Distributed Utility Integration Test", NREL/SR-560-34389, August 2003 (250 pages)
    http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy03osti/34389.pdf

         ^^^^^^^^^^^^

CADER (California Alliance for Distributed Energy Resources)

The 2004 DG conference in San Diego on January 26-28, 2004 had 202 attendees.
    http://www.cader.org/2004Conference/Conference2004.html

Presentations are posted on CADER’s website at  www.cader.org or go directly to:
   http://www.cader.org/2004Conference/2004Presentations/Presentations.html

The draft DG-DER Cost and Benefit Primer was developed as a first step to support the discussions at the "Costs and Benefits of DER" session at the Conference on January 26-28, 2004. Comments about the document can be provided via the CADER member list-server to reach all members.
   http://www.cader.org/2004Conference/Papers.html

        ^^^^^^^^^^^^

IEEE 1547 Update

As you know, "IEEE 1547 Standard for Interconnecting Distributed Resources with Electric Power Systems" was approved by the IEEE Standards Board in June 2003. It was approved as an American National Standard in October 2003. (available for purchase from IEEE:      http://standards.ieee.org

SCC21 develops and coordinates new IEEE standards and maintains existing standards developed under past SCC21 projects. These include the original 1547, along with the four spinoff efforts.

> P1547.1 Conformance Test Procedures for Equipment Interconnecting Distributed Resources with Electric Power Systems (EPS)  (draft standard)

> P1547.2 Draft Application Guide for the IEEE 1547 Standard

> P1547.3 Monitoring, Information Exchange, and Control of Distributed Resources Interconnected with EPS (draft guide)

> P1547.4 Design, Operation, and Integration of Distributed Resource Island Systems with EPS  (draft guide)

#1 and 2 have drafts out to their working groups for review.  #1 expects to be ready for ballot early in 2005.
#3 has just completed a draft.
#4 has just been approved as a new initiative, and will be organized over the coming summer.

Complete information is available at:
   http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/scc21/wg.html

The next meeting of the IEEE 1547 series working groups will be April 20-22, 2004 in San Francisco. The P1547.1, P1547.2, and P1547.3 working groups will meet concurrently 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Working groups will be meeting separately – no plenary session is planned.  Details at:
  http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/scc21/1547.1/1547.1_archives.html

          ^^^^^^^^^^^^

PG&E DG Interconnection program

PG&E held a Distributed Generation (DG) Workshop last December 10. The free event provided PG&E customers and the DG community with practical information on how to navigate the various Electric Rule 21 application and interconnection review processes – from initial application through to permission to parallel with PG&E’s electric distribution system. The focus of the workshop was to communicate PG&E’s internal DG processes and interconnection technical requirements to the DG community. (For details on California’s Rule 21, see:
  http://www.energy.ca.gov/distgen/interconnection/california_requirements.html)

PG&E has set up an entire cross-company team to deal with all aspects of DG interconnection in a coordinated way.  They appear to be very committed to low hassle, low cost, minimum time for DG projects. A great deal of information about PG&E’s program, (including the 117 page powerpoint from the workshop) is available at: http://www.pge.com/gen

Jerry Jackson, Team Leader
415-973-3655   GRJ4@pge.com

PS- Jerry’s office generously offers to send a hard copy on request of the nearly 2 inch thick binder that was handed out at the workshop.

       ———CALIFORNIA RULE 21 ——-
CPUC:  http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/static/industry/electric/distributed+generation/index.htm
CEC:    http://www.energy.ca.gov/distgen/index.html

After passing Rule 21 in Dec 2000, California PUC established, and the CEC coordinated, a working group of all DG stakeholders. Electric Rule 21 Working Group meetings have been held about once a month since mid 2001.  The purpose is to establish procedures and work through issues to simplify and expedite interconnection projects.  (Agenda and minutes are at:
http://www.energy.ca.gov/distgen/interconnection/work_group.html)

  California Interconnection Guidebook
  Publication # 500-03-083F
  PDF file, 94 pages, 1.1 megabytes) online November 13, 2003.
  http://www.energy.ca.gov/distgen/interconnection/guide_book.html

The Guidebook is intended to help a person or project team interconnect one or more electricity generators to the local electric utility grid in California under California Rule 21. Rule 21 applies only to the three electric utilities in California that are under jurisdiction of the California PUC: PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E. The Guidebook is written as an aid to interconnection in these utility areas. It may also be useful for interconnection in some municipal utility areas with interconnection rules resembling Rule 21, principally Riverside, SMUD, and the LADWP.

^^^^^^^^^^^^

Recommended:   DG Monitor, a free email newsletter from Resource Dynamics Corp. Archive and subscription at:
    http://www.distributed-generation.com/

DG Update

/0 Comments/in , /by

Has DG (distributed generation) gone quiet, or mainstream, or both? Meanwhile, the DOE program has not done well in the proposed budget. Congressional earmarks are taking up so much money that DOE is forced to cancel some ongoing DG applications projects.

Here are some developments and updates.

– DUIT Facility Up and Running
– CADER Meeting Jan. 2004
– IEEE 1547 Interconnection Standards
– PG&E DG Interconnection program

^^^^^^^^^^^^

Distributed Utility Integration Test Facility (DUIT)

The Distributed Utility Integration Test (DUIT) is the first full-scale, integration test of commercial-grade, utility grid interactive Distributed Energy Resources (DER) in the U.S. DUIT addresses a key technical issue: electrical implications of operating multiple, diverse DERs at high penetration levels within a utility distribution system. DUIT’s test plan is intended to focus on grid interaction, integration and aggregation issues, not on DER technology itself.

After an exhaustive study of program goals and alternative sites, DOE selected the facilities at PG&E’s Modular Generation Test Facility in San Ramon, CA as the home of the new DUIT Facility. Pre existing buildings, labs and professional staff helped make the choice, along with the adjacent test substation and high-current yard. The site held an official opening ceremony in August 2003.

The facility offers a realistic yet controlled laboratory environment, enabling testing of normal and abnormal operational conditions without interfering with a customer’s electric service. DG equipment at the site is commercially available and all on loan to the project from the vendors: Inverters, rotating machinery, and generation and storage devices. DUIT provides a full-scale multi-megawatt implementation, testing and demonstration of distributed generation technologies in a realistic utility installation.

Utilities may want to take note that DUIT will be confirming and testing to the newly passed IEEE 1547 Interconnection standard, which is expected to be adopted by a large number of state regulators and legislators. Similarly, for California, DUIT will be testing to the Rule 21 document.

To inquire about prospective DUIT project participation, technical specifications, test plans, project plans or the DUIT white paper, contact the DUIT Project Team. Reports will be issued by CEC and other sponsors beginning this Summer, and information will be available on the DUIT website:
http://www.dua1.com/DUIT

Contact:
Susan Horgan, DUIT Project Leader
Distributed Utility Associates
925-447-0625 susan@dua1.com

For the complete history:
"DUIT: Distributed Utility Integration Test", NREL/SR-560-34389, August 2003 (250 pages)
http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy03osti/34389.pdf

^^^^^^^^^^^^

CADER (California Alliance for Distributed Energy Resources)

The 2004 DG conference in San Diego on January 26-28, 2004 had 202 attendees.
http://www.cader.org/2004Conference/Conference2004.html

Presentations are posted on CADER’s website at www.cader.org or go directly to:
http://www.cader.org/2004Conference/2004Presentations/Presentations.html

The draft DG-DER Cost and Benefit Primer was developed as a first step to support the discussions at the "Costs and Benefits of DER" session at the Conference on January 26-28, 2004. Comments about the document can be provided via the CADER member list-server to reach all members.
http://www.cader.org/2004Conference/Papers.html

^^^^^^^^^^^^

IEEE 1547 Update

As you know, "IEEE 1547 Standard for Interconnecting Distributed Resources with Electric Power Systems" was approved by the IEEE Standards Board in June 2003. It was approved as an American National Standard in October 2003. (available for purchase from IEEE: http://standards.ieee.org

SCC21 develops and coordinates new IEEE standards and maintains existing standards developed under past SCC21 projects. These include the original 1547, along with the four spinoff efforts.

> P1547.1 Conformance Test Procedures for Equipment Interconnecting Distributed Resources with Electric Power Systems (EPS) (draft standard)

> P1547.2 Draft Application Guide for the IEEE 1547 Standard

> P1547.3 Monitoring, Information Exchange, and Control of Distributed Resources Interconnected with EPS (draft guide)

> P1547.4 Design, Operation, and Integration of Distributed Resource Island Systems with EPS (draft guide)

#1 and 2 have drafts out to their working groups for review. #1 expects to be ready for ballot early in 2005.
#3 has just completed a draft.
#4 has just been approved as a new initiative, and will be organized over the coming summer.

Complete information is available at:
http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/scc21/wg.html

The next meeting of the IEEE 1547 series working groups will be April 20-22, 2004 in San Francisco. The P1547.1, P1547.2, and P1547.3 working groups will meet concurrently 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Working groups will be meeting separately – no plenary session is planned. Details at:
http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/scc21/1547.1/1547.1_archives.html

^^^^^^^^^^^^

PG&E DG Interconnection program

PG&E held a Distributed Generation (DG) Workshop last December 10. The free event provided PG&E customers and the DG community with practical information on how to navigate the various Electric Rule 21 application and interconnection review processes – from initial application through to permission to parallel with PG&E’s electric distribution system. The focus of the workshop was to communicate PG&E’s internal DG processes and interconnection technical requirements to the DG community. (For details on California’s Rule 21, see:
http://www.energy.ca.gov/distgen/interconnection/california_requirements.html)

PG&E has set up an entire cross-company team to deal with all aspects of DG interconnection in a coordinated way. They appear to be very committed to low hassle, low cost, minimum time for DG projects. A great deal of information about PG&E’s program, (including the 117 page powerpoint from the workshop) is available at: http://www.pge.com/gen

Jerry Jackson, Team Leader
415-973-3655 GRJ4@pge.com

PS- Jerry’s office generously offers to send a hard copy on request of the nearly 2 inch thick binder that was handed out at the workshop.

———CALIFORNIA RULE 21 ——-
CPUC: http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/static/industry/electric/distributed+generation/index.htm
CEC: http://www.energy.ca.gov/distgen/index.html

After passing Rule 21 in Dec 2000, California PUC established, and the CEC coordinated, a working group of all DG stakeholders. Electric Rule 21 Working Group meetings have been held about once a month since mid 2001. The purpose is to establish procedures and work through issues to simplify and expedite interconnection projects. (Agenda and minutes are at:
http://www.energy.ca.gov/distgen/interconnection/work_group.html)

California Interconnection Guidebook
Publication # 500-03-083F
PDF file, 94 pages, 1.1 megabytes) online November 13, 2003.
http://www.energy.ca.gov/distgen/interconnection/guide_book.html

The Guidebook is intended to help a person or project team interconnect one or more electricity generators to the local electric utility grid in California under California Rule 21. Rule 21 applies only to the three electric utilities in California that are under jurisdiction of the California PUC: PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E. The Guidebook is written as an aid to interconnection in these utility areas. It may also be useful for interconnection in some municipal utility areas with interconnection rules resembling Rule 21, principally Riverside, SMUD, and the LADWP.

^^^^^^^^^^^^

Recommended: DG Monitor, a free email newsletter from Resource Dynamics Corp. Archive and subscription at:
http://www.distributed-generation.com/

NREL VISIT

/0 Comments/in , /by

Six stalwart UFTO company representatives and yours truly spent the entire day on May 8 at the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), in Golden CO.

NREL is the smallest of the DOE national labs, with just over 1000 staff, and an annual budget of $187 million (FY00).. It is also the only lab with a specifically defined mission to advance renewable energy technology. NREL has a number of special purpose facilities and programs in wind, solar (PV and thermal), biomass/bioenergy, hydrogen and advanced transportation vehicles.

One impression that struck us was the strong sense of purpose and commitment that the NREL staff bring to their work. They really seem motivated by a desire to make the world a better place.

In terms of technical content, it was a bit of a drink from a firehose. Each presenter managed in under an hour to encapsulate the state of the art, explain the context and importance, and indicate what NREL’s particular role is.

(Presentations are available for download from the UFTO website–client password required. To access the directory of all presentation files, go to:
http://www.ufto.com/clients-only/nreldocs/
Or click on the links below to download individual documents directly.)

Obviously, in this amount of time we were only beginning to scratch the surface–myriad information resources abound on the DOE, NREL and other websites and publications. Best of all, perhaps, was the opportunity to meet the people doing the work, and to be able to recontact them to dig deeper.

Discussions of context and importance reflected a familiar list of driving forces (climate, resources, population, poverty, etc.). Energy demand will grow substantially; oil and gas won’t last forever. Renewables are on a decades-long development cycle that most new technologies (e.g. oil) have experienced in the past. Their cost and performance characteristics are now beginning to reach a point where their use is increasingly entering the mainstream in a major way.

One idea that NREL has been talking about for a couple of years — if the 20th century was the fossil energy century, then perhaps the 21st will be the biological energy century, with “biorefineries” gradually taking the place of oil refineries to provide fuels, chemicals, and myriad other material feedstocks of the economy. It’s definitely a long-term vision, but one can cite several examples where this already happens, e.g. in a paper mill, trees become paper, energy and other products. Another is corn, which becomes ethanol, corn, and livestock feed.

————————-
NREL Overview
http://www.ufto.com/clients-only/nreldocs/Overview.pdf (1.2 mb)
David Warner, david_warner@nrel.gov
Lee Boughey, lee_boughey@nrel.gov
Industry Liaison

————————-
Distributed Energy Resources and Hydrogen
http://www.ufto.com/clients-only/nreldocs/Der.pdf (820kb)
Tony Schaffhauser, AC_Schaffhauser@nrel.gov
Director , Distributed Energy Resources Center
http://www.nrel.gov/energy_resources/

This group pursues the linkages of renewables and natural gas with national energy needs through distributed generation. They provide analysis tools, test facilities, resource assessment, and work on standards, codes, and regulatory/institutional issues.

Renewable Resource Data Center (RReDC) provides information on several types of renewable energy resources in the United States, in the form of publications, data, and maps. GIS integration enables overlay of related infrastructures, e.g. pipelines, roads, and transmission lines.
http://rredc.nrel.gov/

————————-
Solar Programs Overview
http://www.ufto.com/clients-only/nreldocs/PV.ppt (7mb)
John Benner, john_benner@nrel.gov
http://www.nrel.gov/photovoltaics.html

PV Roadmap: http://www.nrel.gov/ncpv/pvplans.html

Some key take-aways:
– “Breakthroughs” are not necessary. PV is on track to become a major energy supply via gradual improvement. The range of cost-effective applications is rapidly expanding, with PV energy costing from 10-50¢/kwh. Over the last 20 years, prices have fallen 25% with each doubling of cumulative shipments.
– Silicon PV rides on the shoulders of the semiconductor industry, with all its materials, equipment and manufacturing technology (e.g. the progress from 6″ to 8″ to 12″ wafers). (NREL’s PV lab does research funded by IC companies!) Even amorphous silicon can draw from the flat panels industry. The various thin-film technologies have no such opportunity to leverage better established industry capabilities.
– Thin film, though less efficient, is cheaper, and can fill important niches such as building-integrated PV.
– US market share is dropping. Elsewhere in the world, interest, and government support is leading to faster growth. World wide production is over 400 MW/year.
– There are lots of myths to dispel. For example, some say that huge land areas are required. Answer: existing roofs are more than enough.

————————-
Superconductivity
http://www.ufto.com/clients-only/nreldocs/Superconduct.pdf (2.8mb)
Richard Blaugher, richard_blaugher@nrel.gov
Technology Manager, Superconductivity Program

NREL is one six DOE labs that work in superconductivity (SC). The DOE website has a lot of information about the overall effort:
http://www.eren.doe.gov/superconductivity/
(note in particular “Library” and “Technology Status”)

There are two main thrusts: basic research into new materials and wire or ribbon fabrication methods, and develop superconducting electronic power devices, in collaboration with industry. Devices include transformers, cables, a motor, current limiter and a magnetic separator. (Fact sheets on each one are available under “The Partnership”.) Utilities are involved with several of these projects.

NREL’s own internal R&D includes development of new coating techniques to make HTSC ribbon. One method uses electrodeposition, and recently a dip-coating technique has set new records for current density.

See Blaugher’s excellent review article from 2000 Global Energy
http://www.ufto.com/clients-only/nreldocs/HTSC Prospects.doc (52kb)

————————-
Energy Analysis Overview
http://www.ufto.com/clients-only/nreldocs/Analysis.pdf (3.1mb)
Walter Short, walter_short@nrel.gov

This group, along with counterparts throughout the lab, studies technology, policy and market issues to support decision making at the program level, lab management, and DOE headquarters. They develop models and tools and perform analyses such as life-cycle cost, technology choice, R&D program prioritization and review, etc.
The website has a lot of good material, including publications and even an online software tool for renewable energy cost estimation.
http://www.nrel.gov/analysis/

————————-
Enterprise Development Program
http://www.ufto.com/clients-only/nreldocs/Enterprisdevelp.pdf (1.2mb)
http://www.ufto.com/clients-only/nreldocs/entrep.prog.doc (word 300kb)

Marty Murphy, lawrence_murphy@nrel.gov
http://www.nrel.gov/technologytransfer/entrepreneurs/entrepreneurs.html

This unique program supports innovators, recognizing the need for viable small companies as one of the principal mechanisms to carry new technologies forward to commercialization. The website offers an broad array of reference and other materials to help them with all aspects of their business, especially fundraising. Venture investment forums are held around the company. Over 200 companies have presented in past events. NREL has also been instrumental in establishing a new national alliance of incubators around the country which focus on clean energy.

Next event: The 15th NREL Industry Growth Forum
Oct. 29- 30, 2002 in Albany, NY.
http://www.nrel.gov/technologytransfer/entrepreneurs/pdfs/forum_6.pdf

————————-
Biofuels Overview
http://www.ufto.com/clients-only/nreldocs/Biofuels.pdf (1.9mb)
Cindy Riley, cynthia_riley@nrel.gov
Process Development Leader
Biotechnology Division for Fuels and Chemicals

Ethanol from cellulosic biomass is a key goal of NREL’s. For thousands of years, ethanol has been made by fermentation of sugars and starches; most of today’s US ethanol is made from corn. Most biomass, however, consists of lignin and cellulosic material which has to be broken down first. Various combinations of acids and enzymes are used to convert the cellulose to sugars which then can be fermented. (Lignin remains, and once separated has uses of its own.)

The DOE website gives a good overview of the process:
http://www.ott.doe.gov/biofuels/advanced_bioethanol.html

NREL’s program includes engineering new enzymes and yeasts, process technology, a major test facility, resource analysis, and systems economics studies, with a goal to bring the production cost of bioethanol down to $1/gallon by 2010. Bioethanol, and many various potential coproducts, could be a major realization of the “biorefinery” vision.

————————-
Bioenergy Overview
http://www.ufto.com/clients-only/nreldocs/Bioenergy.pdf (5.3mb)
Rich Bain, Group Manager, richard_bain@nrel.gov
Chemistry for Bioenergy Systems

Following the ethanol story, bioenergy is a far broader topic. Noting there are hundreds of bio-based production facilities in the US already (which already produce over 6000 MW of power), this presentation reviewed many of the huge variety of opportunities within the biorefinery concept, from biodiesel to biopower and gasification at scales ranging from 15 kw to the 200 tons/day Battelle Gasifier.

————————-
Tour of the National Wind Test Center
http://www.ufto.com/clients-only/nreldocs/Wind.nrel.ppt (2.4 mb)
Brian Smith, Turbine Program Development, brian_smith@nrel.gov,
Jim Johnson, Site Operations, james_a_johnson@nrel.gov,

As with solar, Europe leads the US by a wide margin in deployment of windpower, with a total installed capacity nearly four times ours. The economics of wind are steadily improving, and some very large companies are heavily committed. As DOE’s lead laboratory in wind technology development, NREL operates the National Wind Technology Center and manages turbine research programs and applied research activities.
http://www.nrel.gov/wind/

We visited the Center, 30 minutes from NREL, and toured the facilities, which are available to wind turbine manufacturers for equipment test and evaluation.

NREL operates the only full-scale blade testing facility in the U.S. for MW-scale wind turbines. 35 meter length blades are pushed and pulled a million times to find their weak points. The full-system wind turbine drive train testing accommodates up to 2.5 MW turbines. A huge electric motor drive simulates the wind, pushing systems to their limit. This facility in the only one of its kind in the world. In addition, there is a strong gusty wind that comes through a notch in the mountains. This would make a poor production resource, but is an excellent testing environment, as it subjects systems to highly variable and difficult conditions. Full scale turbines of all sizes are installed at the site and monitored in detail. Our group actually got to up inside a 600 kw wind turbine– impressive to say the least, at 120 feet above the ground.

————————-
Distributed Energy Resources/Hybrid Test Facility
http://www.ufto.com/clients-only/nreldocs/DERtestfacility.pdf (256kb)
Ben Kroposki, benjamin_kroposki@nrel.gov

This facility has a variety of distributed generation technologies, a grid simulator and load banks. It is used to test inverters and interconnection power electronic systems, especially those developed under the DOE Distributed Power Program. Recently, the mission has been expanded to do testing of standards, “testing the test” to see if proposed standards can be used in practice.

NRECA DG tools

/0 Comments/in , /by

Follow-up to this item from earlier UFTO Note:
UFTO Note – DOE Distributed Power Review 15 Feb 2002

— NRECA has an aggressive program to support its members to do fuel cell demonstrations, with training, handbooks, databases, and a users group. Coops view DG as “a solution, not as a problem”. Together coops represent the largest “single” utility in the country, with 34 million customers in 46 states. The handbook will be available on the DOE website in the near future, and many more resources are available only to members of NRECA.
Contact Ed Torrero, 703-907-5518, ed.torrero@nreca.org

——————-

From the DOE DER Update Newsletter for 10 May 02

Co-Ops Unveil Tool Kit For Interconnection

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) has developed a collection of new business templates that will help local utilities harness the power of distributed generation. The NRECA tool kit will help utilities establish policies for the interconnection of DG units and assure the safe and reliable operation of the distribution system. “As interest in distributed generation grows, cop-ops must anticipate the effects that its application will have on their systems and the DG tool kit will help them prepare,” said NRECA CEO Glenn English. The project was co-funded by National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corp. and Energy Co-Opportunity. The interconnection tool contains the following resources:

o A Business and Contract Guide for Interconnection to help cooperatives and their employees move smoothly through the interconnection process

o A DG Rates Manual to help each cooperative think through the issues required to design a rate that meets that cooperative’s specific goals; and Consumer Guidelines for Interconnection to educate consumers about the interconnection process

o A Technical Application Guide that provides rules of thumb that engineers at each cooperative can apply to develop detailed technical interconnection requirements that work for their system

o A Model Interconnection Application to be filled out by consumers interested in installing their own generation

o A Model Short Form Interconnection Contract for consumers installing small DG units with a capacity of 3 kW or less

The document “tool kit” is offered at no charge to interested parties and can be found at:
http://www.nreca.org/leg_reg/DGToolKit

——————
DER Update: Summary of DER-related news and events is published by DOE’s Office of Distributed Energy Resources every two weeks. – email subscription available.
http://www.eren.doe.gov/der/summaries.html

Quite a few documents and online tools for DG are available here (but not sign yet of the NRECA materials):
http://www.eren.doe.gov/der/documents_resources.html

BPA Conf on DG, Renewables

/0 Comments/in , /by

Conference–Distributed Resources, Renewables and the Environment

February 2, 2000, Portland, OR

Sponsors
Bonneville Power Administration
Energy NewsData, Energy Dynamics Online project

Observations:
Sitting through this conference, I had the contradictory feelings of “same old same old”, while at the same time there seemed to be so much good stuff being said that it was hard to absorb it all. Perhaps it was the combination of a lively mood, good speakers who could clearly state the big picture, and some genuinely new ideas. The crowd was very pro-DG/Renewables, with some good cautions raised about environmental effects (you don’t want to turn on all your dirty diesels on a peak-load bad-air day!).

My own takeaways (with biases showing):
– Tech change (internet, DG) is irresistible.
– Dereg/restructuring is irresistible (though timing is uncertain).
– The “Home-Town” utility has a huge opportunity and role to play – if it wants to, and particularly if new kinds of regulation can be put in place.
– Think price, not cost. Think niches, not “the market”.

During the final panel session, Joel Gilbert gave a frightening summary of the capacity situation and vanishing reserve margins in the US, predicting a showdown in the east this coming summer. Capacity additions are not keeping pace with shutdowns, and there is zero investment in new transmission capacity.

Energy NewsData has provided a list of attendees plus a lengthy report about the conference online at: http://www.newsdata.com/edonline/groundhog

=================================

NOTES

Introduction — Steve Wright, Sr VP, BPA

The “Energy Web ” — It’s coming, even if we’re not sure what it looks like.
1. Reliability — need for new capacity
–Gen supply – Hydro resources diminishing (fish, relicensing); coal restricted (airquality)
–RTO timing very uncertain; investments on hold pending outcome
–Opportunity for new market entrants — DG and renewables.

2. Consumer Choice — retail access coming, sooner or later, gradually or suddenly
Consumers value reliability and environmental stewardship

3. Technological change – It’s all coming together for DG, though many hurdles put in the way. Exec survey – most expect FC’s becoming a reality; State or Fed net metering laws; Fed interconnection stds (IEEE). AMR, electronic billpaying seen as very significant.

Keynote Address — Carl Weinberg

“The philosophies of one century become the common sense of the next”
i.e. renewable energy, environment, sustainability [spaceship earth]

Forces at work:
1. Market based governance — “free markets” — gov’t does things to establish markets that “do” things (instead of gov’t “doing” things directly).
2. Environment – learning necessity to live symbiotically with nature, and to include it in our P/L measures. DG/Renewables only part of answer.
3. Tech change — from economies of scale to economies of mass production. DG can be tailored to individual needs. De-integration of vertical utilities. Link pieces of system with information rather than with organizations. Mix of central and decentralized. Developing world may be better with largely decentralized ( e.g. straight to cell phones, skipping wire system).

Karl Rabago, Rocky Mountain Institute

Benefits of DG – short lead time, small units (less lumpy); portable- quick to deploy and redeploy; built “like cars not cathedrals”, genuinely diversifies portfolio risks.

For the Utility/”Residual Disco” – resiliency; increase T&D life; better capacity utilization; source of reactive power; premium power quality; cut reserve requirements; load following options.

For environment – Combined heat and power; use local (waste derived) fuels.

Randy Berggren, manager, Eugene Water & Electric Board

Municipal utility (elec, water, district heat — 100,000 customers) Intend to remain vertically integrated. Own some generation, 24 hour trading floor. Lots of public involvement in new Integrated Resource Plan; strong connections to community. Strong commitment to conservation and renewables — goal to add 1% of system load each year. Local utility (“Home Town”) can be the delivery infrastructure for PV– don’t need to cede market to new (dot com) entrants.

Larry Papay, SAIC

“Three D’s”
– deconstruction (deregulation) of the utility industry
– digitalization ( includes huge power quality requirement)
– decarbonization – environmental concerns and valuing of emission credits

Ralph Cavanagh, NRDC

Need to mobilize and incentivize existing (utility) companies for DG, rather than regard them simply as the obstacle to a “disruptive technology”. DG can enhance the grid. Need performance standards so it’s not worse for environment, noting that generation close to load means the emissions are close to people.

The “home-town” utility can and should be involved, and do it, but not as a monopoly. Need new kind of regulation with incentives to provide reliable wires at lowest cost; not rewards based on system throughput. Need to deal with stranded system fears. Need incentives to invest.

Joel Gilbert, CEO, APOGEE Interactive Inc

“Bubba don’t care” when it comes to energy, restructuring, environment, etc.. At most 2% of the population is really motivated, but even they aren’t well informed.

People do want “business interruption insurance”, for both business and personal, but they don’t care about the difference between a fuel cell and a microturbine. There are some people who want a fuel cell for fun, as a luxury — so sell it to them, and never mind how many $/KW.

The Home Town wires company could do this — turnkey installation, dispatch it too (outsource it if you have to). Enron doesn’t want the wires-co talking to the customer, but they’re the ones who fix things after the storm.

What is the customer’s motivation? Appeal to their fear and greed. “Reduce it to a bumper sticker.” Life Insurance didn’t sell at first, until they stopped calling it “death insurance.

Recommended reading- a book “Revenue Management” by Robert Cross, on how the airlines use price signals to educate the customer and maximize their revenues. Electricity doesn’t have price signals (i.e. time of day), and even California hasn’t been able to get a demand response from customers.

Alison Silverstein, Texas PUC

The “Texas Model” for DG interconnection policy is freely available to other states to use as basis for their own program. It was largely a “win-win”, or at least “equal grumbling”. The process went fast, achieving “80%” consensus. For the rest, decisions were made, so as to move ahead.

The objective was to remove barriers to entry by DG, to set forth the rules, and then get out of the way and let the market do its work. A DG has the right to get on the T&D system. (T pricing was standardized in ’95, and D pricing is being developed). There are standard agreements, procedures, deadlines and fees. There are limits on how much DG can be hooked up to a given circuit. An interconnection cookbook manual is in the works, along with a equipment pre-certification process.
http://www.puc.state.tx.us/rules/rulemake/21220/21220.cfm

Eric Heitz, The Energy Foundation

While not opposed to DG, per se, concerned that hype is far surpassing reality, and the environmental issues are serious. Small diesels are plentiful, and very dirty. Microturbines emit far more NOx than CCGT, and fuel cells more CO2. Combined Heat&Power only brings microturbines up to the level of CCGT. [There are sure to be arguments over these assertions. It sounded like not much attention was given to emissions performance of new technology.]

Recommendations: DG should be required to be as clean or cleaner than new CCGT, and standards should ratchet down over time. Reward CHP and efficiency. Make manufacturer responsible for lifetime emissions performance.

Pamela Lesh, Portland General Electric

(See Feb 4 UFTO Note – A Proposition for a New “Regulatory Contract”)

At the BPA Conference in Portland (Feb 2), one of the distinct highlights was a presentation by Pamela Lesh, VP Rates & Regulatory Affairs at Portland General Electric. She outlined a remarkable new approach for regulating distribution utilities that goes well beyond “performance based rates”. It was the first public airing of ideas she’s been developing for some time.

The real conceptual breakthrough is to separate the basis on which the utility gets paid from the way the customer is billed, so the right incentives can be presented to each one. Here’s the next to last slide (the complete text appears below):

——————————-
– Price to the utility to align success so that the more effectively the utility achieves the results, the better it does, i.e., unit-based, not usage-based, pricing.

– Price to the customer to encourage conservation and prevent abrupt shifts in cost, e.g., usage or demand-based, not flat, pricing.

– Yes we can price differently to the utility and to the customers! We will just need to balance collections with payments.

Xenergy Distrib Power Study

/0 Comments/in , /by

Xenergy, Inc., the consulting firm, is offering UFTO subscribers a special discount price for their Distributed Generation study, which was done as a companion to their ongoing Retail Energy Management (REM) multiclient program.

The deliverables include a report issued Nov 99, and two databases, which will continue to be updated. Excerpts from the report’s Executive Summary appear at the end of this note.

— The DP Competitor Database is an assembly of information on the competitors in the DP marketplace. This database highlights the activities of the utilities and ESPs which are selling products and services to the DP marketplace (generation that is sited at a customer location and driven by the needs of the onsite energy user). Data sources for the Competitor Database include corporate filings and financial data, product/service literature, personal communications, and other market data.

— The State Regulatory Database highlights regulatory conditions in nine key states that will likely have a strong positive (or negative) impact on the growth of DG capacity.

The two databases are both contained in a single Microsoft Access 97 database file.

The price, ordinarily $10,000, is reduced to $8,000 for UFTO companies. One or the other of the two databases can be purchased separately.

Contact:
Rebecca MacGillivray, 781-273-5700, x502 rmacgillivray@xenergy.com

Here is a portion of the press release which announced the study:
——————————
XENERGY Study Identifies Strategies in Distributed Power Market (11/08/99)

A new study from XENERGY identifies 12 strategies for energy companies eager to enter the newly emerging Distributed Power (DP) market — from technology acquisition to product distributor to retail energy service provider — and profiles market player success stories to date. According to the report, while the market remains in its infancy, opportunities exist for competitors to establish a stake.

According to XENERGY’s Francis Cummings, who headed up the study, many companies are keenly aware of the potential for explosive growth in this market. Said Cummings, “We constructed the study and corresponding DP Market database with market entry strategies in mind. Based on our regulatory and competitor analysis, the study helps clients to identify the Distributed Power strategy that best fits with their business plan.”

Six U.S. electric utilities or their affiliates – Avista, DTE, Duquesne, Edison International, GPU and Idacorp — have adopted a New Technology strategy (#3) by testing and acquiring rights to new advanced technologies, primarily fuel cells, through joint ventures and investments. DTE Energy Technologies, for example, purchased a stake in Plug Power, which is developing and manufacturing fuel cells, a promising generation technology for automotive and residential markets. Plug Power recently launched its IPO, and expects commercial sales to commence in 2000.

A low-cost, low-risk strategy is Demand-Side DP Bundling (#1) — Equitable Resources, an integrated energy company, is adding or expanding DG technologies as part of a package of demand-side energy services through its existing performance contracting unit, NORESCO. In contrast, PSEG Energy Technologies is pursuing Strategy #1 but as part of a broader “Integrated Soup-to-Nuts” strategy (#7) as a competitive supplier of commodity grid power, as well as serving as distributor for AlliedSignal’s new microturbine.

Distributed Generation (DG), or onsite power generation by end-users, has been in use for years, but recent announcements of small scale microturbines and fuel cells could dramatically increase the Distributed Power (DP) market size for applications less than 100 kW, called “micro-DG.”

Sponsors of the study will have access to XENERGY’s new DP Market database with embedded Internet links, which provides quick, flexible access to data on 50 companies currently involved in the DP market. Featured DP competitors include 27 electric utilities and their affiliates and 19 companies manufacturing distributed generating equipment. The database also includes data on key regulatory issues affecting the feasibility of distributed generation, organized on a state-by-state basis.

The newly released study is a companion to a larger XENERGY study, REM ’99, which is a comprehensive analysis of retail energy markets in New Jersey, Illinois and Pennsylvania. Results are confidential and limited to the study’s sponsors.
——————————–
RESEARCH SCOPE: CUSTOMER-DRIVEN ONSITE GENERATION

This study focuses on the market for small generation that is sited at a customer location and driven by the needs of the onsite energy user. The primary emphasis of the study is micro distributed generation projects, those less than 100 kW, that are driven by the onsite customer’s need for power quality, reliability and/or cost savings and those driven by the existence of a thermal load. We focused on distributed generation in the context of existing and potential retail power markets, such as those in California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Illinois and Texas.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (Excerpts)

To assess the status of this market, we first developed a database with information on companies active in the DP industry and on regulations affecting DG projects in states with retail electric markets. This “DP Market Database” accompanies this report as a free-standing product, providing a unique directory and market assessment tool covering the major players in the DP industry, their products and services, and the rules under which they operate. The classifications of DP competitors in the database are based on the portion or portions of the company which were the focus of this study. In some cases this covers a family of affiliated companies, and in other cases, we drill down to a single DP company. The database is also designed to serve as a “portal” to the internet web sites for each of the companies and to web sites with resources on key DG-related regulations.

There are a number of key unresolved regulatory issues that will have strong positive or negative effects on the growth of the DP industry, but these issues are just beginning to be addressed. Early market participants often invest significant time addressing these regulatory drivers in order to take full advantage of the emerging DP market. The DP Regulatory Database provides a summary and comparison of key regulatory drivers of the DP market in states with retail access.

With the current increased availability of these technologies, customer demand for products and services offering enhanced power quality and reliability as well as independence from the grid is rising. In industries where short outage periods mean significant losses, the demand is especially likely to increase. The ability to generate cost savings as well as an increased focus on the environmental attributes in markets where there is customer choice are also key factors driving customer demand. Strain on utility transmission and distribution systems is also driving the “distributed utility” concept and increasing utility demand for DG technologies. While we did not develop an independent estimate for this study of the potential size of the DP market, estimates of the market have ranged as high as 20% of new additions to generating capacity over the next 20 years, which would amount to 35 GW.

This review of the present status of the DP industry and its regulatory context leads us to conclude that significant opportunities remain for energy companies to enter the competitive distributed power market and establish strong positions as innovators and leaders in these early stages of market development. These opportunities stem from the following factors:

* While many companies in the electric industry are assessing market opportunities, there are few that are actively marketing distributed power products in the regulated or deregulated gas and electric markets. * Product offerings of the firms that have entered the distributed power market are in early stages of development. Companies are still learning how to effectively market and price DP products and services. * While the supply of many distributed generation (DG) technologies remains low, many manufacturers are currently moving to commercial production and are planning to rapidly ramp up production.

We have developed twelve models of market entry strategies through which new entrants approach the DP market. These models are based on the examples of companies in the database, and on XENERGY’s discussions with representatives of these companies and with end-users and others familiar with the DP mark et.

Distribtued Power R&D Solicitation

/0 Comments/in , /by

[Commerce Business Daily: Posted in CBDNet on November 8, 1999]
[Printed Issue Date: November 10, 1999] [cbdnet.access.gpo.gov]

National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617 Cole Boulevard, Golden, CO 80401-3393
SUBJECT: A–DOE/NREL DISTRIBUTED POWER PROGRAM – DISTRIBUTED POWER SYSTEM INTEGRATION RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

SOL 0-380 DUE 112299
POC Judith A. Foster; Telephone (303) 384-7387; e-mail judith_foster@NREL.gov

DESC: DOE Distributed Power Program – Distributed Power System Integration Research and Development The National Renewable Energy Laboratory anticipates issuing Letters of Interest (LOI) to solicit research and development efforts from members of the Distributed Power Community and related industries. The anticipated effort will be directed to include modeling, field testing, and analysis to determine the means of integrating distributed power resources, including renewable energy, combined heat and power, and hybrid systems into the electricity system in a manner that enhances reliability, safety, and power quality. The solicitation will be open to U.S. organizations and/or teams with activities directly related to distributed power and electric power system integration and operation. The Distributed Power Program system integration research and development activities are being conducted for the DOE by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Golden, Colorado). The proposed work areas may include, but will not be limited to, issues such as universal distributed and electric power system interconnection technology including current and advanced/future designs; requirements and tests for interconnection; interconnection equipment performance and functional characterization and installation test method design, development, validation and documentation; command, control, communication, monitoring, and remote and on-site intelligent controls for interconnection; interconnection equipment/technology body of tests and procedure for certification of equipment and installation; design and development requirements for the establishment of an industry-wide accreditation and certification 3rd party body for accrediting facilities/entities for certification testing and for certifying interconnection equipment as well as for on-site interconnection approval; field testing and analysis (data analysis) of selected and configured distributed systems already installed in the field and represent an aggregated system for validating and confirming various established electric system/distributed resource models; analysis of current and potential distributed power markets, and institutional, regulatory and market barriers; design and analyze business/economic and technical models and characterizing future distributed power infrastructures that are conducive to open markets and customer choice; and, design and document the procedure (handbook) on how to establish an interconnection agreement that represents a common approach and recommended improvements that will help all parties involved with interconnection. Proposals received in response to the anticipated LOI will be accepted only if submitted by a U.S. organization or a team led by a U.S. organization. Successful offerors must demonstrate significant price participation (cost sharing) with each proposal. Subject to the availability of funds, multiple Firm-Fixed Price awards are anticipated. Current plans are to limit each award within a range of $50,000 to $300,000 (maximum) with anticipated 50 percent price participation (cost sharing). Organizations desiring a copy of the solicitation setting forth the LOI requirements should make written request within 14 days of this announcement at the above address, referencing Synopsis No. 0-380. The LOI is anticipated to be issued within 21 days. This is not a request for proposal. Telephone requests will not be accepted.
EMAILADD: judith_foster@nrel.gov
CITE: (W-312 SN399022)

DOE Distrib Power Review & IEEE Interconnection Working Group

/0 Comments/in , /by

** DOE Distributed Power Program Review and Planning Meeting
** IEEE SCC21 P1547 Interconnection Working Group
Arlington, VA, September 27-30, 1999

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** DOE Distributed Power (DP) Program Review and Planning Meeting

— Welcome and Introduction
— Dan Adamson, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Power Technologies
______________________
— Distributed Power in DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
— Dan Reicher, Assistant Secretary, EE

DP covers a wide gamut of topics, from village power and rural electrification to industrial power parks, partially self-powered office towers (incl. PV), combined heat and power (CHP) and all varieties of renewable energy. There are three “elements of success” that must be met — technologies, markets, and policies. A number of DOE programs involve DP, and there are several cross-cutting initiatives: CHP, Million Solar Roofs, Buildings for the 21st Century, Bioenergy, and Distributed Power (i.e. to address interconnection issues). A DP website is under construction.

______________________
— An Industry Perspective — Beverly Jones, Consolidated Natural Gas

Broad trends are setting the stage for DP: industry restructuring, gas/electric convergence, and the role of information technology in energy. All of these are changing the buyer seller relationship dramatically, as the distinct “one-point” of contact is replaced by myriad complex and overlapping interactions. As the slow process of policy change proceeds, the action is mostly at the state level, where there are many opportunities to bring up DR issues arise. States are competing for jobs, and see energy prices/markets as a key determinant. There is less urgency at the federal level, and the lack of standardization is a big problem. One area that’s particularly important–tax policy, especially depreciation rates for DR investments, which should be faster than for traditional generation and distribution facilities.

______________________
— Creating Value Streams for Distributed Resources — Dave Hoffman, Celerity Energy

Barriers to DP growth include 100 years with a regulated monopoly system, with it’s concerns about reliability, and the credibility, reliability and costs of DR. Market pressures and technology are driving change. Celerity’s business is acquiring options on peaking capacity from existing gensets, which will be linked via networks and bid into th e power market.

______________________
— Program Overview — Joe Galdo, DOE Program Manager

A workshop Dec 98 made recommendations for DOE program actions for DP:
-Interconnection (standards, documentation of the problem,
system integration modeling, and equipment certification)
– Outreach to state regulators
– Quantify benefits
– Model (building) codes and ordinances

The program is organized around three main topics:
– Strategic Research (concepts for advanced system control, etc.)
– Systems Integration (address safety, reliability, etc issues.
Analysis, modeling, hardware testing, interface hardware
and software)
– Regulatory and Institutional Barriers

FY99 Program — $1.2 Million funding — planning, support IEEE standards working group, document interconnection barriers, outreach to stat es.

______________________
— Documenting Barriers to Distributed Power — Brent Alderfer, Competitive Utility Strategies

[DP is not new. DOE commissioned a major study to examine what is currently being done.]

A report is due in the next 2 months, detailing 70 case studies of current interconnection experience and practices. Sizes ranged from 300 watt PV to 100 MW combined cycle.

DP “barriers” are seen differently by utilities–who are concerned with safety, reliability, risk, liabilities, and who don’t want “gadgets and gizmos” on the grid. Some utilities simply refuse any (non-QF) connection.

Standby tariffs range widely ($1 to $250/kw/yr). These are arbitrary now, often set to discourage DP. In the future, however, real markets may probably show as wide a range, but for entirely different reasons.

Uplift tariffs are usually based on entire radial system, even if transaction only uses a portion.

Restructuring by states generally has no impact on barriers. Some utilities have embraced DP (O&R 10 years experience using reciprocating gensets owned by 3rd parties to defer substation additions) Southern Co, while opposing FERC restructuring of G&T markets, is actively hooking up cogenerators.

______________________
— Interconnection Standard Development — Richard DeBlasio, NREL

[brief overview of SCC21 working group progress]

______________________
— Technical Assistance to States and Localities — Gary Nakarado, NREL

Assumed (interconnection) goals are uniform technical requirements, minimized cost, standardized contracts, and costs commensurate with DP system size. PV has paved part of the way. Standards alone won’t assure adoption of DP. For example, net metering laws can limit utility’s ability to resist.

[DOE “State Energy Alternatives” — this website gives specific information on the potential of selected renewable energy resources in each state as well as background information on each state’s electricity sector
http://www.eren.doe.gov/state_energy/ ]

[The Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) provides assistance to state regulators.
http://www.rapmaine.org/ ]

______________________
— Environmental and Economic Impact Assessment — Howard Gruenspecht, DOE Office of Policy

The administration’s restructuring proposal addresses DP issues.
(See: http://www.doe.gov/policy/ceca.htm)

A pdf document (the 3rd one listed on the webpage) is an explanatory memo for the proposed legislation, and discusses DP issues in several aspects:
http://www.doe.gov/policy/elecrol.pdf

—-
from CECA Supporting Analysis, Chapter 3, page 34

Distributed Power

“The revised Administration proposal includes a package of provisions designed to promote the adoption of efficient combined heat and power and distributed generation technologies. It proposes the development of nationally applicable interconnection standards, clarification of depreciation treatment to assure that distributed generation installations are not subject to unfavorable schedules for the depreciation of structural components, and State-level consideration of stranded cost recovery mechanisms that do not impede cost-effective and energy-efficient combined heat and power projects. It also promises continued efforts by the EPA and the DOE to explore and implement regulatory approaches that recognize the environmental benefits of combined heat and power technologies.”
—-

Secretary Richardson held a “Midwest Electricity Summit” in Chicago on October 8, with several dozen invited stakeholders (utilities, regulators, local government, etc.) to discuss industry issues. Anyone is welcome in the audience. His prepared remarks are posted at: http://www.doe.gov/news/speeches99/octss/midwest.htm

Another is to be held somewhere in the Northeast in a couple of weeks — details tbd.

______________________
— Where Are We Going? A framework for planning White Paper on Interconnection and Controls for Large-Scale Integration of Distributed Energy Resources — Phil Overholt, DOE Program Manager, Transmission Reliability; Joe Eto, LBNL

This was a presentation of the 2nd of the 6 draft white papers.

See: 20 Sep99 UFTO Note-CERTS Draft White Papers
01 Mar99 UFTO Note-CERTS-New DOE Prog in Elec. Reliability

(There’s still time to provide comments on any of the 6 papers.
See 20 Sept note for details.)

______________________
— How Do We Get There? — Five-Year Planning (Breakout Sessions)

– Interconnection Standards, Certification and Testing
– Interconnect Hardware and Software
– Addressing Regulatory and Institutional Barriers
– Planning Analysis and Tools

These were facilitated sessions to develop recommendations for near and longer term destinations, R&D requirements, recommended program activities and resources. A summary is being prepared by DOE and should be available in 6-8 weeks.

UPDATE: It looks DOE’s DP program will have a budget of about
$4 million in FY2000.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

IEEE SCC21 P1547 Interconnection Working Group
Sept 28-30

Topical Presentations:

The first morning of the 3 day meeting was a series of presentations to further the mutual understanding of technical issues.

______________________
— VAR Control from a DR Perspective (T.-E. Moen, ABB)
A detailed technical discussion of voltage source inverters (VSI) and how they can be an economic option for supplying VAR’s into a network.

— Distributed Resources in Downtown Networks (N. Ioannou, BGE) Downtown grid networks, covering perhaps 5% of the total US system, are very different from standard radial networks. There are two types which are very different from each other: grid (or secondary) and spot (or isolated). DP can be connected to either, though it can’t push power into a spot network.

______________________
— EEI Interconnection Study Update (M. Davis)
Progress is continuin g. Outlined a 7 step process to determine interconnection requirements, beginning with identifying the type of generator, i.e., induction (externally or self-excited), synchronous (cylindrical or salient pole) or inverter (line or self commutated) and then on to defining characteristics of the distribution system, etc. A great deal of material has been added to the Working Group’s “Resource Document”, a 2 inch thick compendium of information that backs up the standards development.

______________________
— Shifting the Balance of Power: Grid Interconnection of Distributed
Generation (Brendan Kirby, ORNL and Nick Lenssen,E SOURCE)

Examines the various issues that hinder DP deployment, mostly coming down to utility resistance, lack of uniform requirements and processes (which are based on large units, and are too extensive for most DP). Points out that loads aren’t very different from DP–both can cause harmonics, ripple, DC, fault current, etc., yet they receive very different treatment. Main difference is intentional injection of power. Existing system built for one way power, but in future may be configured to take better advantage of DP. DP are ideal ancillary service providers, but usually excluded from markets. Need to deal with conflict that utilities are both guardians of the public good, and a competitor in the same system. (This will be published as an E-Source report, with a summary version more generally available. I have a copy of the vugraphs if anyone wants them.)

[Note: check out http://www.homepower.com re the “guerilla solar” movement–people hooking up to the grid without permission.]

______________________
— Proposed Revisions toNEC by EEI Elec Light & Power Group (P. Amos, ConEd)

— Proposed New NEC Article on Fuel Cells (K. Krastins)
(See email forwarded to UFTO list on 31 August)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have email and tel #’s for everyone mentioned above, and some additional hard copy information. Please let me know if you want more details on any o f the above.