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Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Optimizing Supply Chain Processes to Ensure a Reliable Electric Power System
The power industry supply chain is facing unprecedented strain as utilities race to upgrade aging infrastructure against a backdrop of lengthening lead times and increasing project complexity. As one Midwestern utility executive recently noted, 'Transformers that once arrived in three months now take up to two years to source,' highlighting a crisis that extends far beyond inconvenience to threaten grid reliability and resilience. These critical components, alongside circuit breakers, switchgear, and other essential equipment, have become the bottlenecked lifelines of an industry in transition. This supply chain gridlock arrives precisely when utilities face mounting pressure to modernize systems. Infrastructure dating back several decades requires replacement while utilities are simultaneously trying to integrate renewable energy into the grid, meet electrification demands, and respond to climate resilience needs. The collision between yesterday's supply chain models and tomorrow's grid requirements has created a perfect storm: utilities must plan years in advance for equipment they once sourced in months, all while navigating geopolitical tensions restricting critical materials, manufacturing limitations, and increasing global competition for limited resources. As the industry confronts this growing crisis, innovations in procurement, manufacturing, and strategic planning are essential. 'Utilities can optimize their supply chain for grid modernization projects by taking a collaborative approach between the services themselves and how they can support the projects, as well as having a partner to be able to leverage their sourcing capabilities and have the relationships with the right manufacturers,' Ian Rice, senior director of Programs and Services for Grid Services at Wesco, explained as a guest on The POWER Podcast. 'At the end of the day, it's how can the logistical needs be accounted for and taken care of by the partnered firm to minimize the overall delays that are going to naturally come and mitigate the risks,' he said. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Wesco is a leading global supply chain solutions provider. Rice explained that through Wesco, utilities gain access to a one-stop solution for program services, project site services, and asset management. The company claims its tailored approach 'ensures cost reduction, risk mitigation, and operational efficiencies, allowing utilities to deliver better outcomes for their customers.' 'We take a really comprehensive approach to this,' said Rice. 'In the utility market, we believe pricing should be very transparent.' To promote a high level of transparency, Wesco builds out special recovery models for its clients. 'What this looks like is: we take a complete cradle-to-grave approach on the lifecycle of the said project or program, and typically, it could be up to nine figures—very, very large programs,' Rice explained. 'It all starts with building that model and understanding the complexity. What are the inputs, what are the outputs, and what constraints are there in the short term as well as the long term? And, really, what's the goal of that overall program?' The answers to those questions are accounted for in the construction of the model. 'It all starts with demand management, which closely leads to a sourcing and procurement strategy,' Rice said. 'From there, we can incorporate inventory control, and set up SOPs [standard operating procedures] of how we want to deal with the contractors and all the other stakeholders within that program or project. And that really ties into what's going to be the project management approach, as well in setting up all the different processes, or even the returns and reclamation program. We're really covering everything minute to minute, day to day, the entire duration of that project, and tying that into a singular model.' But that's not all. Rice said another thing that sets Wesco apart from others in the market is when it takes this program or project approach, depending on the scale of it, the company remains agnostic when it comes to suppliers. 'We're doing procurement on behalf of our customers,' he said. 'So, if they have direct relationships, we can facilitate that. If they're working with other distributors, we can also manage that. The whole idea here is: what's in the best interest of the customer to provide the most value.' Outsourcing allows utilities to focus on their core operations while leveraging specialized expertise in areas like supply chain management, logistics, and workforce training. Wesco's tailored project site services, including kitting, labeling, and advisory services, ensure that projects stay on track, risks are minimized, and resources are used efficiently. 'Again, it's very transparent how we're building out these models, and operating and executing according to the plan, and this is even including the real estate, the equipment, and human capital required for that project or program,' Rice said. 'What this all ultimately means, though, is firms can clean up their balance sheet and move CAPEX [capital expenditure] allocations to OPEX [operating expenses], and overall, there's just a cleaner line in the sand between firms and the core business or that exact project.' To hear the full interview with Rice, which includes more about grid modernization challenges, asset management systems, working stock programs, technology and the role artificial intelligence may play in the future, returns and reclamation procedures, and more, listen to The POWER Podcast. Click on the SoundCloud player below to listen in your browser now or use the following links to reach the show page on your favorite podcast platform: Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube YouTube Music Amazon Music iHeart TuneIn SoundCloud The POWER Podcast · 189. Optimizing Supply Chain Processes to Ensure a Reliable Electric Power System For more power podcasts, visit The POWER Podcast archives. —Aaron Larson is POWER's executive editor (@AaronL_Power, @POWERmagazine). Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
TVA's Clinch River Nuclear Power Project: Where Things Stand Today
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has for many years been evaluating emerging nuclear technologies, including small modular reactors, as part of technology innovation efforts aimed at developing the energy system of the future. TVA—the largest public power provider in the U.S., serving more than 10 million people in parts of seven states—currently operates seven reactors at three nuclear power plants: Browns Ferry, Sequoyah, and Watts Bar. Meanwhile, it's also been investing in the exploration of new nuclear technology by pursuing small modular reactors (SMRs) at the Clinch River Nuclear site in Tennessee. 'TVA does have a very diverse energy portfolio, including the third-largest nuclear fleet [in the U.S.],' Greg Boerschig, TVA's vice president for the Clinch River project, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. 'Our nuclear power plants provide about 40% of our electricity generated at TVA. So, this Clinch River project and our new nuclear program is building on a long history of excellence in nuclear at the Tennessee Valley.' TVA completed an extensive site selection process before choosing the Clinch River Nuclear (CRN) site as the preferred location for its first SMR. The CRN site was originally the site of the Clinch River Breeder Reactor project in the early 1980s. Extensive grading and excavation disturbed approximately 240 acres on the project site before the project was terminated. Upon termination of the project, the site was redressed and returned to an environmentally acceptable condition. The CRN property is approximately 1,200 acres of land located on the northern bank of the Clinch River arm of the Watts Bar Reservoir in Oak Ridge, Roane County, Tennessee (Figure 1). The property includes the CRN site, which is approximately 935 acres, and the Grassy Creek Habitat Protection Area, which is approximately 265 acres and located north of the CRN site. The property itself is owned by the federal government and is managed by TVA in accordance with the Watts Bar Land Management Plan. [caption id="attachment_231845" align="aligncenter" width="740"] 1. Potential SMR facility at Clinch River rendering. Courtesy: TVA[/caption] The CRN site has a number of significant advantages, which include two existing power lines that cross the site, easy access off of Tennessee State Route 58, and the fact that it is a brownfield site previously disturbed and characterized as a part of the Clinch River Breeder Reactor project. Furthermore, it is immediately adjacent to the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR), which was established in the early 1940s as part of the Manhattan Project, a secret undertaking that produced materials for the first atomic bombs. ORR consists of approximately 37,000 acres of federally owned land, the majority of which has remained undeveloped in a relatively natural state. The Oak Ridge area is also noted to have a skilled local workforce, including many people familiar with the complexities of nuclear work. 'The community acceptance here is really just phenomenal,' said Boerschig. 'The community is very educated and very well informed.' TVA began exploring advanced nuclear technologies in 2010. In 2016, it submitted an application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for an Early Site Permit for one or more SMRs with a total combined generating capacity not to exceed 800 MW of electricity for the CRN site. In December 2019, TVA became the first utility in the nation to successfully obtain approval for an Early Site Permit from the NRC to potentially construct and operate SMRs at the site. While the decision to potentially build SMRs is an ongoing discussion as part of the asset strategy for TVA's future generation portfolio, significant investments have been made in the Clinch River project with the goal of moving it forward. TVA selected GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy's (GEH's) BWRX-300 SMR as the preferred technology for the CRN site. 'The decision to pursue GE was made about three years ago,' Boerschig explained, noting that Generation IV technology still had a lot of unknowns at the time. Fuel was a significant factor behind the decision to go with GEH. Many advanced reactors require high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel, but the BWRX-300 does not. In 2022, the war in Ukraine had made many industry observers wary of HALEU's availability because much of the potential supply was expected to come from Russia. There was legitimate concern around how embargos and other potential complications could affect HALEU supplies in the future. 'The [GEH] fuel is American made. It's the same fuel assemblies as you'll have in its Gen I and II counterparts,' said Boerschig. In fact, it's the same exact fuel assemblies that are used in TVA's Browns Ferry units. Concerning the BWRX-300, Boerschig also noted there were fewer first-of-a-kind features in the design and that the supply chain was more established. 'GE's supply chain is somewhere between 85% and 90% intact,' he said. 'So, when you look at the risks of different technologies, for us—and I think it's important to say, for how this technology fit into our enterprise needs—it was the right choice.' In March 2023, GEH, TVA, Ontario Power Generation (OPG), and Synthos Green Energy (SGE) agreed to team up to advance the global deployment of the BWRX-300 SMR. Through a technical collaboration agreement that was announced in Washington, D.C., TVA, OPG, and SGE agreed to invest in the development of the BWRX-300 standard design and detailed design for key components, including the reactor pressure vessel and internals. GEH, meanwhile, said it was committed to standard design development and anticipated a total investment of about $400 million associated with the development. Each contributor said it would fund a portion of GEH's overall cost and collectively would form a 'Design Center Working Group' with the purpose of ensuring the standard design would be deployable in multiple jurisdictions. The long-term goal is for the BWRX-300 design to be licensed and deployed in Canada, the U.S., Poland, and beyond. Notably, OPG has a BWRX-300 project well underway at its Darlington New Nuclear Project site in Clarington, Ontario, with construction expected to be complete by the end of 2028. This is expected to be the first grid-scale SMR in North America. While OPG is developing its project in parallel with the design process, TVA expects to wait for more design maturity before launching its CRN project. 'As far as the standard design is concerned, we're at the same pace, but overall, their project is about two years in front of ours,' said Boerschig. 'And that's by design—they are the lead plant for this effort.' In the meantime, there are two primary items on TVA's to-do list. 'Right now, the two biggest things that we have on our list are completing the standard design work, and then the construction permit application,' Boerschig said, noting the standard design is 'somewhere north of 75% complete' and that TVA's plan is to submit the construction permit application 'sometime around mid-year of this year.' To hear the full interview with Boerschig, which contains much more about the CRN project, the development of a domestic nuclear supply chain, the role government leaders have played in supporting advanced nuclear technology, and the importance of the project to furthering U.S. competitiveness on the world stage, listen to The POWER Podcast. Click on the SoundCloud player below to listen in your browser now or use the following links to reach the show page on your favorite podcast platform: Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube YouTube Music Amazon Music iHeart TuneIn SoundCloud The POWER Podcast · 187. TVA's Clinch River Nuclear Power Project: Where Things Stand Today For more power podcasts, visit The POWER Podcast archives. —Aaron Larson is POWER's executive editor (@AaronL_Power, @POWERmagazine).
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
AI-Powered Energy Forecasting: How Accurate Predictions Could Save Your Power Company
Net-demand energy forecasts are critical for competitive market participants, such as in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and similar markets, for several key reasons. For example, accurate forecasting helps predict when supply-demand imbalances will create price spikes or crashes, allowing traders and generators to optimize their bidding strategies. It's also important for asset optimization. Power generators need to know when to commit resources to the market and at what price levels. Poor forecasting can lead to missed profit opportunities or operating assets when prices don't cover costs. The ERCOT region, specifically, has massive wind and solar capacity. Net-demand forecasts (total demand minus renewable generation) help predict when conventional generation will be needed to fill gaps from variable renewable resources. Market participants also use forecasts as a risk management tool. Accurate projections allow participants to hedge their positions through bilateral contracts or financial instruments, protecting against volatile market conditions. Meanwhile, forecasts can provide insight for operational planning. Having market predictions for up to 15 days can help managers with unit commitment decisions, maintenance scheduling, and resource allocation across a portfolio of generation assets. In Texas, the competitive energy-only market design places even greater importance on forecasting, as there are no capacity payments—generators earn revenue solely when they produce energy. The state's isolated grid, extreme weather events, and high renewable penetration make accurate forecasting both more challenging and more financially consequential than in many other markets. Fortunately, artificial intelligence (AI) is now capable of producing highly accurate forecasts from the growing amount of meter and weather data that is available. The complex and robust calculations performed by these machine-learning algorithms is well beyond what human analysts are capable of, making advance forecasting systems essential to utilities. Plus, they are increasingly valuable to independent power producers (IPPs) and other energy traders making decisions about their positions in the wholesale markets. Sean Kelly, co-founder and CEO of Amperon, a company that provides AI-powered forecasting solutions, said using an Excel spreadsheet as a forecasting tool was fine back in 2005 when he got started in the business as a power trader, but that type of system no longer works adequately today. 'Now, we're literally running at Amperon four to six models behind the scenes, with five different weather vendors that are running an ensemble each time,' Kelly said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. 'So, as it gets more confusing, we've got to stay on top of that, and that's where machine learning really kicks in.' The consequences of being ill-prepared can be dire. Having early and accurate forecasts can mean the difference between a business surviving or failing. Effects from Winter Storm Uri offer a case in point. Normally, ERCOT wholesale prices fluctuate from about $20/MWh to $50/MWh. During Winter Storm Uri (Feb. 13–17, 2021), ERCOT set the wholesale electricity price at its cap of $9,000/MWh due to extreme demand and widespread generation failures caused by the storm. This price remained in effect for approximately 4.5 days (108 hours). This 180-fold price increase had devastating financial impacts across the Texas electricity market. The financial fallout was severe. Several retail electricity providers went bankrupt, most notably Griddy Energy, which passed the wholesale prices directly to customers, resulting in some receiving bills of more than $10,000 for just a few days of power. Brazos Electric Power Cooperative—Texas's largest and oldest electric cooperative—filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after facing a $1.8 billion bill from ERCOT. Rayburn Electric Cooperative faced more than $1 billion in energy costs during the storm. CPS Energy—San Antonio's municipal utility—sued ERCOT over excessive prices and faced $1 billion in storm-related costs. 'Our clients were very appreciative of the work we had at Amperon,' Kelly recalled. 'We probably had a dozen or so clients at that time, and we told them on February 2 that this was coming,' he said. With that early warning, Kelly said Amperon's clients were able to get out in front of the price swing and buy power at much lower rates. 'Our forecasts go out 15 days, ERCOT's forecasts only go out seven,' Kelly explained. 'So, we told everyone, 'Alert! Alert! This is coming!' Dr. Mark Shipham, our in-house meteorologist, was screaming it from the rooftops. So, we had a lot of clients who bought $60 power per megawatt. So, think about buying 60s, and then your opportunity is 9,000. So, a lot of traders made money,' he said. 'All LSEs—load serving entities—still got hit extremely bad, but they got hit a lot less bad,' Kelly continued. 'I remember one client saying: 'I bought power at 60, then I bought it at 90, then I bought it at 130, then I bought it at 250, because you kept telling me that load was going up and that this was getting bad.' And they're like, 'That is the best expensive power I've ever bought. I was able to keep my company as a retail energy provider.' And, so, those are just some of the ways that these forecasts are extremely helpful.' Following Winter Storm Uri, the Texas Legislature passed bills allowing utilities to securitize their Uri debts through ratepayer-backed bonds, spreading the costs over decades. That may have saved some companies from bankruptcy, but didn't eliminate the financial burden. Some city-owned utilities received financial support from their municipal governments. Many cooperatives and other utilities eventually passed costs on to customers through rate increases spread over years. The crisis exposed significant vulnerabilities in ERCOT's market design, particularly how financial risk is allocated during extreme weather events, and led to regulatory reforms regarding weatherization requirements and market rules. Still, accurate forecasting continues to be vital for the power industry. With more and more renewables being added to the grid, Kelly said he sees the market going binary. 'It's going to be a zero or it's going to be a one. And by that, I mean, it's going to be a $10 power or it's going to be $1,000 power,' he explained. 'This job is getting harder and harder by the day—both for the software companies, but really for those load serving entities,' Kelly said. 'So, that's where we've got to adopt new technologies and always continue to better ourselves, better our knowledge of the new things coming down the pipe, and just work together to make the grid a much more stable place.' To hear the full interview with Kelly, which contains more about how power markets work; changing market dynamics; other examples from Australia, California, and Winter Storm Elliott; challenges to accurate forecasting; how AI is improving the process; and more, listen to The POWER Podcast. Click on the SoundCloud player below to listen in your browser now or use the following links to reach the show page on your favorite podcast platform: Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube YouTube Music Amazon Music iHeart TuneIn SoundCloud The POWER Podcast · 185. AI-Powered Energy Forecasting: How Accurate Predictions Could Save Your Power Company For more power podcasts, visit The POWER Podcast archives. —Aaron Larson is POWER's executive editor (@AaronL_Power, @POWERmagazine). 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Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Nuclear Power Renaissance Underway in West Texas
When you think of innovative advancements in nuclear power technology, places like the Idaho National Laboratory and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology probably come to mind. But today, some very exciting nuclear power development work is being done in West Texas, specifically, at Abilene Christian University (ACU). That's where Natura Resources is working to construct a molten salt–cooled, liquid-fueled reactor (MSR). 'We are in the process of building, most likely, the country's first advanced nuclear reactor,' Doug Robison, founder and CEO of Natura Resources, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. Natura has taken an iterative, milestone-based approach to advanced reactor development and deployment, focused on efficiency and performance. This started in 2020 when the company brought together ACU's NEXT Lab with Texas A&M University; the University of Texas, Austin; and the Georgia Institute of Technology to form the Natura Resources Research Alliance. In only four years, Natura and its partners developed a unique nuclear power system and successfully licensed the design. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a construction permit for deployment of the system at ACU last September. Called the MSR-1, ACU's unit will be a 1-MWth molten salt research reactor (MSRR). It is expected to provide valuable operational data to support Natura's 100-MWe systems. It will also serve as a 'world-class research tool' to train advanced reactor operators and educate students, the company said. The technology is not new. It was actually proven decades ago. 'A molten salt reactor was built at Oak Ridge in the 1960s—the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment or the MSRE—and that reactor functioned for about five years, then was shelved in favor of solid-fuel or light-water reactors [LWRs] that we're all familiar with,' Robison explained. 'That was really a decision made because the customer in the 1960s was the Department of Defense, and Admiral Rickover was building a nuclear Navy, and they needed to enrich uranium to plutonium for warheads, and solid fuel reactors are more suited for those purposes,' Robison added. The coolant is one of the main differences between LWRs and MSRs. As the names imply, an LWR is cooled by water, while an MSR is cooled by molten salt. LWRs require thick pressure vessels and high-pressure piping to safely contain pressurized water, provide radiation shielding, and ensure long-term structural integrity. Today, there are no U.S. manufacturers with the capability to forge a large nuclear reactor vessel, so they must be sourced overseas. Notably, molten salt turns from a solid to a liquid at about 450C, but it doesn't turn to a gas until about 1,400C, which is above the melting point of stainless steel. 'What that means is you can never get to the point to where the salt flashes to a steam, so we operate at very, very high temperatures, which is a big advantage because the high process heat—from an efficiency standpoint and manufacturing standpoint—is incredibly valuable, but we operate at atmospheric pressure, because the salt never transfers into a gas. It goes from a solid to a liquid. And, if you were to have some kind of leak or release, once you drop below 450 degrees C, it immediately freezes back into a solid, so kind of picture candle wax, if you will. So, it's called 'walk-away safe' for that reason. You don't need a containment dome,' explained Robison. These factors significantly reduce the cost of MSR facilities compared to LWR plants. MSR reactor vessels, for example, can be manufactured by Teledyne Brown Engineering in Huntsville, Alabama, and perhaps elsewhere in the U.S. Robison said everything needed to construct an MSR can be made in America, and he expects much of it to be manufactured in Texas. 'Governor Abbott has said, 'We want Texas to capture this industry,' ' noted Robison. 'Houston, Texas refers to itself as the energy capital of the world. So, we've been working with the Greater Houston Partnership and the Houston Energy Transition Initiative [to answer the question] 'How does that manufacturing happen not just in the U.S., but how does it happen in Texas?' ' Liquid fuel also provides an advantage for MSRs versus the LWR's solid-fuel design. '[In] the solid-fueled reactor, you have the fuel inside the fuel rod. And under current technology, when you burn 3% to 5% of the fuel, then at that point, the rod begins to decay. That is your first level of containment, so you have to pull the rod. That now becomes 'spent nuclear fuel' and enters into the waste stream. You still have 95% to 97% of perfectly good fuel inside that fuel rod. And now the problem becomes: 'What do we do with this nuclear waste that's going to be around for 100,000 years?' ' In an MSR, the fuel is dissolved in the salt. 'What that means is we burn practically 100% of the fuel. We do not throw unspent nuclear fuel away, and so our efficiency goes way up. We do not generate the waste that you see with a light-water reactor,' said Robison. 'In fact, molten salt reactors can utilize current stockpiles of spent nuclear fuel that is sitting in storage at different nuclear reactors around the nation, and we can take that fuel, and re-utilize that as fuel for a molten salt reactor.' Natura is not only focused on its ACU project, but it is also moving forward on commercial reactor projects. In February, the company announced the deployment of two advanced nuclear projects, which are also in Texas. These deployments, located in the Permian Basin and at Texas A&M University's RELLIS Campus, represent significant strides in addressing energy and water needs in the state. 'Our first was a deployment of a Natura commercial reactor in the Permian Basin, which is where I spent my career. We're partnering with a Texas produced-water consortium that was created by the legislature in 2021,' said Robison. 'Produced water' is the water brought to the surface during oil and gas extraction processes. It is a byproduct of hydrocarbon production and typically consists of formation water that was originally present in the underground reservoir, along with additional water introduced during extraction operations. It typically has a salinity that is three times that of seawater, but it can be double or triple that in some instances. In any case, it cannot be released on the surface and must currently be reinjected back into the formation, which can create additional problems. One of the things that can be done with the high process heat from an MSR is desalinization. 'So, we're going to be desalinating produced water and providing power—clean power—to the oil and gas industry for their operations in the Permian Basin,' said Robison. Meanwhile, at Texas A&M's RELLIS Campus, which is located about eight miles northwest of the university's main campus in College Station, Texas, a Natura MSR-100 reactor will be deployed. The initiative is part of a broader project known as 'The Energy Proving Ground,' which involves multiple nuclear reactor companies. The project aims to bring commercial-ready small modular reactors (SMRs) to the site, providing a reliable source of clean energy for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). Robison believes the Stargate Project, a massive $500 billion initiative aimed at building advanced hyperscale data centers across the U.S. to power next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) models, could also present an opportunity for Natura. 'The very first deployment of Stargate is scheduled to be in Abilene, Texas. We can actually see the data center that's being constructed from the windows of our offices,' he said. 'We may see something happen there just given the proximity of what they're doing and what we're doing,' Robison envisaged. To hear the full interview with Robison, which contains more about the creation of Natura Resources, the selection of MSR technology for its design, its collaboration with ACU, the work done to license the reactor, and much more, listen to The POWER Podcast. Click on the SoundCloud player below to listen in your browser now or use the following links to reach the show page on your favorite podcast platform: Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube YouTube Music Amazon Music iHeart TuneIn SoundCloud The POWER Podcast · 184. Nuclear Power Renaissance Underway in West Texas For more power podcasts, visit The POWER Podcast archives. —Aaron Larson is POWER's executive editor (@AaronL_Power, @POWERmagazine).
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A New Paradigm for Power Grid Operation
Power grids operate like an intricate ballet of energy generation and consumption that must remain perfectly balanced at all times. The grid maintains a steady frequency (60 Hz in North America and 50 Hz in many other regions) by matching power generation to demand in real-time. Traditional power plants with large rotating turbines and generators play a crucial role in this balance through their mechanical inertia—the natural tendency of these massive spinning machines to resist changes in their rotational speed. This inertia acts as a natural stabilizer for the grid. When there's a sudden change in power demand or generation, such as a large factory turning on or a generator failing, the rotational energy stored in these spinning masses automatically helps cushion the impact. The machines momentarily speed up or slow down slightly, giving grid operators precious seconds to respond and adjust other power sources. However, as we transition to renewable energy sources like solar and wind that don't have this natural mechanical inertia, maintaining grid stability becomes more challenging. This is why grid operators are increasingly focusing on technologies like synthetic inertia from wind turbines, battery storage systems, and advanced control systems to replicate the stabilizing effects traditionally provided by conventional power plants. Alex Boyd, CEO of PSC, a global specialist consulting firm working in the areas of power systems and control systems engineering, believes the importance of inertia will lessen, and probably sooner than most people think. In fact, he suggested stability based on physical inertia will soon be the least-preferred approach. Boyd recognizes that his view, which was expressed while he was a guest on The POWER Podcast, is potentially controversial, but there is a sound basis behind his prediction. 'The premise behind stability based on inertia is: the inertia makes it hard to move the way the grid operates quickly, and so as a result, you gain stability out of it,' Boyd explained. 'With the evolution to power electronic-based stability services, we're going to have a lot more options to have precise control and change things much more quickly than we can today.' Power electronics-based systems utilize inverter-based resources, such as wind, solar, and batteries. These systems can detect and respond to frequency deviations almost instantaneously using fast frequency response mechanisms. This actually allows for much faster stabilization compared to mechanical inertia. Power electronics reduce the need for traditional inertia by enabling precise control of grid parameters like frequency and voltage. While they decrease the available physical inertia, they also decrease the amount of inertia required for stability through advanced control strategies. Virtual synchronous generators and advanced inverters can emulate inertia dynamically, offering tunable responses that adapt to grid conditions. For example, adaptive inertia schemes provide high initial inertia to absorb faults but reduce it over time to prevent oscillations. Power electronic systems address stability issues across a wide range of frequencies and timescales, including harmonic stability and voltage regulation. This is achieved through multi-timescale modeling and control techniques that are not possible with purely mechanical systems. Inverter-based resources allow for distributed coordination of grid services, such as frequency regulation and voltage support, enabling more decentralized grid operation compared to centralized inertia-centric systems. Power electronic systems are essential for grids with a high penetration of renewable energy sources, which lack inherent mechanical inertia. These systems ensure stability while facilitating the transition to low-carbon energy by emulating or replacing traditional generator functions. 'I do foresee a time in the not-too-distant future where we'll be thinking about how do we actually design a system so that we don't need to be impacted so much by the physical inertia, because it's preventing us from doing what we want to do,' said Boyd. 'I think that time is coming. There will be a lot of challenges to overcome, and there'll be a lot of learning that needs to be done, but I do think the time is coming.' To hear the full interview with Boyd, which contains many other predictions including on renewable system designs, future utility revenue models, particulate pollution trends, the urgency around carbon reductions and climate change, how the electric industry will ultimately decarbonize transportation, the power industry's 'people problem,' and much more, listen to The POWER Podcast. Click on the SoundCloud player below to listen in your browser now or use the following links to reach the show page on your favorite podcast platform: Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube YouTube Music Amazon Music iHeart TuneIn SoundCloud The POWER Podcast · 181. A New Paradigm for Power Grid Operation For more power podcasts, visit The POWER Podcast archives. —Aaron Larson is POWER's executive editor (@AaronL_Power, @POWERmagazine).
