DOE to make $25M in funding to address delivery risk at power plants
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will award $25 million in funding for 10 projects that develop systems that look at the delivery risk of power plants.
The initiative is part of the DOE’s Performance-based Energy Resource Feedback, Optimization, and Risk Management, or PERFORM, program. These 10 projects will work to develop management systems that represent the relative delivery risk of each asset, like wind farms or power plants. Further, these systems will balance the collective risk of all assets across the grid.
“Ensuring the reliability of our Nation’s critical energy infrastructure and electric grid is of the utmost importance to America’s energy security and national security,” DOE Under Secretary of Energy Mark W. Menezes said. “Investing in new technologies and systems that minimize risk and bolster the reliability of U.S. energy will allow us to utilize all of our abundant energy resources in a more integrated and secure manner.”
The PERFORM teams will design risk scores that communicate the delivery risk of an asset. For example, they’ll look at the reliability of electricity from a solar plant due to the weather on a given day. They will also develop grid management systems that capture uncertainty and evaluate the system’s risk.
“Our grid is a crucial asset in supplying reliable power to millions of Americans across the nation.” Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy Director Lane Genatowski said. “These PERFORM teams will develop the tools to further optimize renewable resources into the grid, improving reliability, reducing energy imports, and further strengthening a pathway to sustainable energy independence.”
The existing risk management strategy aligns well with conventional technologies. Still, there is a need for this strategy to be reassessed due to new technologies and a shift in the power generation mix. That shift includes an increase in renewable resources, distributed energy resources (DER), and storage technologies. The PERFORM projects address that need.
