Siemens to work with national labs to modernize electric grid

Siemens Corp. is working with three Department of Energy national laboratories to test and validate technologies designed to strengthen and modernize the nation’s electric grid.

The agreement – announced at the Innovation XLab Grid Modernization Summit in Seattle — was signed by Siemens, the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo.; the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn.; and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash.

The agreement establishes a framework for research scientists to share information and resources on innovations related to the electric grid, including smart inverters for solar panels, batteries, and electrical vehicles that are capable of supporting the nation’s power system. It could lead to collaborations, scientific workshops, lectures, and symposia, as well as co-written publications and journal articles.

A potential collaboration will leverage Siemens software defined inverter (SDI) technology, which would be tested and validated at specialized grid facilities at the three national laboratories. This promising new technology, once validated, could be used to strengthen and modernize the nation’s electric grid, including microgrids and distributed energy resources such as energy storage.

“Siemens is committed to developing innovative technologies needed to ensure that the power grid of the future is more resilient, secure, and capable of supporting distributed and low-carbon power generation assets,” Ulrich Muenz, Siemens Corporate Technology research group head, said. “Collaborating with the Department of Energy’s U.S. National Laboratories and co-creating with the nation’s energy community is crucial to modernizing and enhancing America’s energy infrastructure.”

The memorandum of understanding covers five years with provisions to renew or extend it.