Niskayuna, NY: GE Global Research and GE Energy Consulting, along with National Grid, the Department of Energy (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and Clarkson University announced a research partnership on December 10 to improve the reliability and resiliency of electricity delivery in northern New York. The focus area will be the Village of Potsdam, near the Canadian border, which is prone to ice storms that could damage utility lines and other above-ground power infrastructure.
Fueled by a $1.2M grant from the DOE’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE) and a $300,000 investment from GE, the project will allow for the development of an Enhanced Microgrid Control System (eMCS) designed to be the key element in keeping the town’s electricity system up and running for several days should it become disconnected from the main power station.
The project will also help utilities, like National Grid, better leverage distributed energy resources (DER), such as solar, hydropower, and thermal, in a microgrid scenario.
GE researchers will develop the eMCS with two main goals in mind: to provide resilient, high-quality power delivery to the local community and efficient, reliable grid services to the local utility. The program will be closely aligned with the specific energy needs and power resources available in and around Potsdam, with the option to include resources like 3 megawatts (MW) of combined heat & power generators, 2MW of solar photovoltaic, 2MW of energy storage and 900kW or more of hydro-electric generation.
Additionally, the system will feature specially-designed control algorithms with a graphical user interface for the operator. The control system will be flexible, scalable and secure, and will have a hierarchical structure of three controllers operating on different timescales to maximize efficiencies and ensure all assets function as needed to maintain a constant, steady flow of electricity.