PNNL

Where will the future of energy technology take us? PNNL joins researchers and professionals from over 25 countries and 47 states at the ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit to share innovative ways of addressing America's energy challenges through technological advancements. The event’s 8th annual conference and showcase takes place February 27 to March 1 at the Gaylord Convention Center in National Harbor, MD.

The summit's Technology Showcase will feature more than 300 energy technologies, including several projects and tools from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

PARTNER PAVILION BOOTH

PNNL — Booth 711

Visit PNNL's Partner Pavilion booth to speak with our researchers and learn about our work in the energy and environment space. Our research areas include battery chemistry, biofuels and biochemical, grid-scale energy storage, processing of lightweight metals and alloys, soft and permanent magnets, fuel cells, HVAC technologies, power grid analytics and operation, and distributed controls for the grid and buildings.

Our Partner Pavilion booth features several topics, including:

Transportation Fuels

PNNL researchers are developing technologies and capabilities to increase energy efficiency in the transportation sector, ranging from fuel additives to alternative fuel infrastructure to vehicle sharing methods. One technology that we’ve developed, a motor oil additive, improves fuel economy by two to four percent. A second technology we’ll be showcasing provides a 25 percent cost savings in the liquefaction of hydrogen through magnetocaloric cooling. Our third showcase technology is an approach for increasing high-occupancy vehicle use using real-time traffic patterns and individual requests.

Grid Storage

Energy storage systems can be used to mitigate the variability between renewable power generation and demand, helping to maintain electric grid stability. However, current technologies for storing energy, like batteries, are still costly. Residential and commercial building systems—such as water heaters, refrigerators, and air conditioning units—are untapped energy management resources due to their flexibility in managing energy consumption and peak demand. When coupled with a software-based solution, this infrastructure can serve as a virtual battery to provide a low-cost, smaller-scale energy storage investment option for utilities. PNNL researchers are leading an effort to understand the capacity of these storage systems, including decision-support tools that guide building owners and utilities in identifying these potential resources and evaluating associated investments.

EXHIBIT FLOOR BOOTHS

Data Repository for Power System Open Models With Evolving Resources (DR POWER) — Booth #941

The power modeling community is in need of robust, transformational models and scenarios to address grid complexity today and into the future with a large-scale, dynamic, open-access system that will support the on-line power operations community. To meet this need, PNNL and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) are teaming up to develop an integrated, user-defined solution known as Data Repository for Power System Open Models with Evolving Resources, or DR POWER. DR POWER will serve as a repository for modern grid models and datasets to support the power operations community.

High Performance Power-grid Optimization (HIPPO) for Flexible and Reliable Resource Commitment against Uncertainties — Booth #943

As the power grid evolves with the integration of renewable energy and changing electricity demand patterns, calculating resource schedules becomes more complex and the probability for error increases. High-Performance Power Grid Optimization, or HIPPO, is a new computational tool to help grid operators generate tomorrow’s electricity more efficiently and in a fraction of the time. Funded by ARPA-E, HIPPO is being developed and validated by a research team led by PNNL, along with partners at Midcontinent Independent Service Operator (MISO), GE Grid Solutions, and Gurobi Optimization.

Sustainable Data Evolution Technology (SDET) for Power Grid Optimization - Booth #940

Demand for electricity keeps changing, and the grid now requires more efficient optimization methods for short-term operation, long-term planning, and disaster restoration. PNNL is partnering with the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), GE Grid Solutions, PJM Interconnection (PJM), Avista Utilities, and California Independent System Operator (CAISO) to develop a sustainable data evolution technology (SDET) tool. The goal of SDET is to create open-access transmission and distribution power grid datasets, as well as data-creation tools that the grid community can use to create new datasets based on user requirements and changing grid complexity.

Multi-scale Incentive-Based Control of Distributed Assets - Booth #937

New operational paradigms for the electricity grid are required to meet the increase in renewable generation and distributed energy resources (DERs), while providing the quality of service, resiliency, and reliability that customers expect. In an effort to improve predictability for utilities, PNNL is developing and testing a hierarchical control framework for coordinating the flexibility of a full range of DERs—including residential and commercial building loads, electric vehicles, and photovoltaic inverters to supply reserves to the electric power grid. PNNL is partnering on the research with United Technologies Research Center (UTRC), Southern California Edison, GE Grid Solutions, PJM Interconnection, and California ISO.

Consortium for Advanced Sorghum Phenomics (CASP) – Booth #1040

Renewable crops like sorghum can be harvested and processed into fuel, but drought and salinity make it difficult for these crops to flourish into healthy and mature plants for harvesting. PNNL is addressing this problem through The Consortium for Advanced Sorghum Phenomics, a collaborative effort with Blue River Technology, Inc., Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Chromatin Inc., and Kearney Agricultural Research & Extension Center. The mission of the CASP project is to accelerate the breeding of biomass sorghum to maximize compositional yield under drought field conditions. Research from the CASP project will ultimately lead to an increase in production of renewable transportation fuels and expansion of bioenergy production into affected areas, both of which will enhance the economic and energy security of the United States.

For more information, contact energyenvironment@pnnl.gov.