Grid Modernization Initiative (2020 Transition)

Book 2 - Issue Papers
Entire 2020 DOE Transition book As of October 2020

The electricity system we have today must evolve to meet the demands of the 21st century and beyond. The Grid Modernization Initiative (GMI) coordinates electric grid-related research and development (R&D) across the five Department of Energy (DOE) applied energy offices:

• Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
• Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
• Office of Electricity (OE)
• Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER)

Because the technology mission of each of these Offices depends on a reliable, resilient, and secure electric grid, the GMI allows each Office to pursue grid-related R&D while minimizing duplicative effort. Over the past five years, GMI has provided for cross-cutting coordination on over $330 million of DOE research investment; and worked with industry, regulators, policymakers, and other stakeholders to facilitate the widespread adoption of new technologies.

Summary

America’s security, economy, and sustained global leadership depend on a reliable, secure, and resilient power grid. GMI works with public and private partners to develop the concepts, tools, and technologies needed to measure, analyze, predict, protect, and control the grid of the future. This requires focus on a fully integrated vision of the energy system from fuel to generation to delivery to load, including interdependent infrastructures (e.g., communications systems, natural gas pipelines). GMI’s portfolio of work will help to better integrate all sources of electricity; improve the security of our nation’s grid; solve challenges of energy storage and distributed generation; and provide a critical platform for U.S. competitiveness and innovation in a global energy economy.

Five key trends, below, are driving a transformation that challenges the capacity of the grid to provide the services the US needs, but also serve as an opportunity to transform our nation’s grid into a platform for greater prosperity, growth, and innovation.

1. Changing mix of types and characteristics of electricity generation.
2. Growing demands for a more resilient and reliable grid, especially due to weather impacts.
3. Growing threat of cyber and physical attacks.
4. Opportunities for customers to provide grid services and participate in electricity markets.
5. Increased use of digital and communication technology in the control of power systems.

Background

The modernized grid will need to balance six attributes, and GMI tailors its efforts to incorporate them:

1. Resilience. The ability to recover quickly from any situation and sustain the operation of critical facilities and customers.
2. Reliability. Improvement of power quality and fewer power outages.
3. Security. Protection at every scale, from components to regions, and in our critical infrastructure.
4. Affordability. Maintenance of reasonable costs to all stakeholders.
5. Flexibility. Ability to responds to the variability and uncertainty of conditions across a range of timescales, including a range of energy futures.
6. Environmental Sustainability. Facilitation of broader deployment of clean generation and efficient end-use technologies and reduces the environmental impact of energy-related activities.

Status

Details on the existing research portfolio are available at the Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium (GMLC) website. Projects from the first two rounds of funding are wrapping up, while the third round of projects are underway, completing their first year of research.

DOE Leadership and Coordination

OE and EERE initially partnered to create the GMI to coordinate and leverage grid-related research efforts, and in 2018 the GMI collaboration began to include the other applied energy offices. These five offices and a steering committee drive activities under the GMI that complement individual investments and programs that each Office implements separately.

In addition, the GMI coordinates its activities with DOE’s Office of Science, Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy, and the Artificial Intelligence and Technology Office.

The Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium (GMLC) is a subset of GMI and was established as a strategic partnership between DOE and the National Laboratories to bring together leading experts, technologies, and resources to collaborate on the goal of modernizing the Nation’s grid. The benefits of the GMLC include more efficient use of resources; shared networks; improving learning and preservation of knowledge; enhanced lab coordination and collaboration; and regional perspective and relationships with local stakeholders and industry.

Externally, over 400 partners are involved in GMLC projects and peer reviews, representing State agencies, regional entities, utilities, suppliers, universities, and others.

The GMI/GMLC has been very successful with broad U.S. Congressional support and has served as the model for other DOE crosscutting initiatives.

File:GMI.png

Structure of the Grid Modernization Initiative and Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium

See also

• Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
• Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
• Office of Electricity (OE)
• Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER)