Principal Investigator  
Wei Du  
 

Project 1: Investigate the Fundamental Theory of the Dynamics of Power-electronics-dominated Power Systems

This project will investigate the synchronization mechanisms of traditional current-source-controlled power converters (grid-following) and the emerging voltage-source-controlled power converters (grid-forming) under both small-signal and large-signal disturbances and will compare the synchronization mechanisms with synchronous machines. The interaction mechanism among current-source-controlled power converters, voltage-source-controlled power converters, and synchronous machines will also be studied at the system level, gaining insights for systems with high penetration of power electronics (PEL)-based renewables and PEL-based transmission systems.

Principal Investigator  
Hisham Mahmood

Project 2: Control Oriented Models for Co-design Optimization

The project team will focus on exploring research methodologies to access the dynamics of PEL-enabled grids, considering dynamics imposed by 1) PEL-based generation, 2) PEL-based grid building blocks such as back-to-back interlinks and DC subsystem converters, and 3) rotating synchronous machines. These methods will be used to identify the parameters that are most crucial for the co-design optimization of such grid systems and identifying a balance between high-fidelity PEL models and simplified representations.

Principal Investigator  
Sayak Mukherjee

Project 3: Hygrid: Hybrid Decision and Control Methods for Multi-scale Grid Resilience and Oscillation Damping

This project will analyze real-life events of unforeseen oscillations and failures and develop foundational capabilities for analytical assessment, coordinating control, and multi-time-scale decision and support framework for high penetration of inverter-based resources to the bulk power grid.

Principal Investigator 
Himanshu Sharma

Project 1: Multi-objective, Multi-scale Co-design Modeling and Algorithms for Pareto-set Identification

This project will develop a rigorous mathematical and algorithmic framework for multi-objective optimization for multiple coupled subsystems with black or grey-box dynamical constraints and operating bounds. The project will develop a novel multi-agent blackboard architecture that will allow multiple agents to read and write pertinent optimization problem data, stochastically search the design space, use previously discovered solutions to explore local optima, or update and prune the Pareto front in decentralized fashion. A centralized blackboard framework allows the optimization problem to be solved in a cohesive manner and permits stopping, restarting, or updating the optimization problem. The modular architecture will enable decision-makers to define different design objectives for each subsystem, the associated design optimization problem, system-specific dynamical models, and operational or safety constraints. The approach will be compared to centralized optimization approaches on a set of baseline multi-scale design optimization problems.

Principal Investigator  
Sumit Purohit 

Project 2: Cameo – Co-design Architecture for Multi-objective Energy System Optimization

The project team will develop a modular co-design architecture for multi-scale, multi-objective optimization to enable the optimized design and operation of energy systems with high PEL penetration. The architecture provides a design specification and standardized interfaces that the project team will leverage to design specifications and standardized interfaces to identify key components, data requirements, dependencies, and recommendations for developing a generalized, modular co-design architecture. The architecture will support multi-modal, multi-temporal-scale data flow across projects such as models (white-box and simulation-based), control parameters, solvers, design data (discrete versus continuous), operational data, constraints, objective functions, dependencies, subsystem topologies, parameters, hyperparameters, and more. The architecture will be instantiated as a containerized and configurable execution platform with a relevant technology stack, standardized interfaces, data formats, and validation schemas. Additionally, the CAMEO project team will develop a prototype pipeline on the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory research cloud to demonstrate the co-optimization for the user case of interest.

Principal Investigator 
Milan Jain

Project 3: Decision Support

The Decision Support project team will develop an interactive modular visualization framework that can display optimum set model reasoning, helping decision-makers effectively bridge the gaps between model and human knowledge.  

Principal Investigator  
Trevor Hardy

Project 1: Multi-entity Simulation Platform Software Architecture

This multi-year project will develop the multi-entity simulation platform—a flexible plug-and-play platform that incorporates the co-designed entities developed by Thrust 2 and the new power electronics models developed by Thrust 1. The system-level simulation will be designed to model the effects of policies on decision-making and of decision-making on system-level metrics (i.e., greenhouse gas emissions, equity measures, reliability, and resilience).

Principal Investigator  
Molly Rose K. Kelly-Gorham

Project 2: Model Building Execution

This project will be focused on using the Multi-Entity-Simulation-Platform to execute a study informed by the use case(s) identified for the E-COMP initiative. The team will collect required data for the considered use cases, build the necessary market models (specifically a real-time, day-ahead, and frequency [non-performance based] market), and develop appropriate methods for evaluating system-level outcomes, including metrics for evaluating policy design and implementation. The goals of the project will be to develop, as much as feasible, "plug-and-play" models that can be incorporated into the software to answer a broad range of questions and to allow flexibility in posing and exploring different “what if” scenarios.

Principal Investigator  
Gerad Freeman

Project 1: Use Case Development

​​​​This project focuses on systematic use case development, documentation, and communication to supplement the direct technical inputs needed for each workstream with influences from non-technical domains (e.g., policy formation, community engagement, energy equity and environmental justice initiatives, and others). Project activities will consider parameterization of energy and environmental policy types for modeling tools used in all three technical workstreams and engage with a multidisciplinary and diverse stakeholder group to develop and inform use case formulation.

Principal Investigator  
Quan Nguyen

Project 2: Real-time Simulation Testbeds

This cross-cutting project will develop a real-time, electromagnetic transient (EMT)-based simulation testbed to support research on multi-terminal high-voltage direct current (HVdc) transmission. The testbed will leverage both alternating current grid and multi-terminal HVdc converter simulators in the real-time simulation tool OPAL-RT to capture a full time-scale system dynamic and controller communication performance. Converters will be implemented with fundamental control capabilities, including grid-forming and grid-following control, and options to expand to more advanced control techniques. The testbed will facilitate the testing of optimization-based co-design algorithms related to HVdc transmission and use cases such as offshore wind.