POWER January 2013 - 22

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
ing with coal) or combine technologies,
such as solar and coal.
■ Long-term operations. In the U.S. alone,
the industry has an estimated $1.2 trillion
invested in assets. As these assets age,
significant investment will be required to
maintain or replace them and sustain high
levels of reliability. The challenge, as it
is in the everyday operation and maintenance
of assets, is to do the right repair/
upgrade/replacement at the right time.
That requires a wealth of data provided
and analyzed using new technologies.
■ An interconnected and flexible delivery
system. The first energy management
system (EMS) was used to balance generation
and demand in 1882, when the
first of the Pearl Street Station generators
was placed in service in New York's lower
Manhattan. Later, the first Supervisory
Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)
systems were deployed in the 1950s
and evolved into today's power system,
which delivers 3,900 TWh of electricity,
generated from approximately 1,000,000
MW of capacity. This electricity is delivered
over 2.4 million miles (equivalent to
circling Earth 650 times), which includes
200,000 miles of transmission and 2.2
million miles of distribution.
Now EPRI is developing what we call
Energy Management System 3.0-a highly
interconnected, complex, and interactive
network of power systems, telecommunications,
the Internet, and electronic commerce
applications that can seamlessly and
efficiently accommodate variable generation,
demand response, electric vehicles,
smart meters, distributed generation from
thousands or even millions of nodes, phasor
measurement units, and electronic
communications. It includes:
■ Smart energy. Smart energy is more than
just the smart grid-an intelligent distribution
system, connected at the consumer
level in a way that enables seamless integration
of resources. Smart energy also
includes " big data, " sophisticated analytics
to interpret and maximize the value
of the tremendous volumes of new data.
And it includes " beneficial electrification, "
exploring better end uses of energy
to improve efficiency beyond kilowatthours
saved.
■ Grid resilience. As " Superstorm Sandy "
demonstrated last November, we have to
be prepared for the unexpected. Improved
resilience includes not only power generation
resource and grid hardening but also
new/improved recovery and " consumer
survival " technologies.
22
■ Consumer-focused technologies. We are
seeing unprecedented changes in the ways
consumers access and use information.
Smart devices and the new controls they
provide to consumers will profoundly
impact industry and require fundamental
changes in the way we provide services
and interact with end users.
Flexible Resources and Operations
New tools now under development are expected
to lead to better integration of variable
generation. Power system flexibility-the
ability of the system to respond to changes
in demand or variable generation-is crucial
to better integrating significant amounts of
variable generation. The system will need to
manage increased variability and uncertainty
over multiple time scales, from seconds and
minutes to hours and days. New resources
such as battery storage, compressed air energy
storage, or demand response enabled
by smart grid technologies will also be
important sources of flexibility in regions
with high variable generation penetration.
Additionally, improved variable generation
forecasting, new probabilistic operational
planning tools, transmission technologies
such as high-voltage direct current (HVDC)
and flexible alternating current transmission
systems (FACTS), and greater coordination
among balancing areas can enable smoother
integration of variable generation by allowing
the system to manage variability and uncertainty
more efficiently and reliably.
EPRI is developing processes, with a focus
on tools and long-term algorithms, for considering
flexibility in resource expansion. Tools
will be provided that allow system planners
to consider the flexibility needs of the system
with high variable generation. They are being
designed to enable better planning decisions
to maximize the value of flexible resources
on the grid. For example, this could lead to
metrics to determine the flexibility needs and
resources in a system, considering new and
existing resources as well as the transmission
network in a system.
Changes in demand and increased deployment
of renewable generation are forcing
coal and combined cycle plants to provide
system load-balancing service. Specific operational
changes expected for coal and gas
plants include two-shifting, high ramp rates,
high unit turndown, and reserve shutdown
(Figure 2). Guidelines for flexible operations
that detail best practices for limiting damage
from cycling are under development.
Owners and operators of fossil power
plants need to consider a range of strategies
for managing the increasing need for flexible
operation. The biggest challenge to mitigating
the impacts of power plant cycling
is the lack of available data on the impact
2. Equipment life extension. Cycling the typical combined cycle plant accelerates damage
mechanisms such as creep fatigue, thermal fatigue, and corrosion, thereby increasing the
rate of component life consumption. This wear and tear increases the overall costs of generation,
including direct costs such as fuel, water treatment, and maintenance. EPRI is studying
component and operational changes that will reduce the impact of cycling. Source: EPRI
Reduce NOx/CO emissions at low load,
install inlet dampers, and isolation/
venting of fuel headers
Accommodate
winding thermal
growth
Improved drains and
attemperator sprays, new
alloys for thinner walled
headers, improved tubeto-header
connections,
and better-sealing stack
damper
Improved drains
and steam
bypass systems
Automated startups
and improved operator
displays and alarm
management
Improved casing
design to reduce
distortion and
improved thermal
insulation
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POWER | January 2013

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POWER January 2013

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