Capability Overview 

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is a leader in developing and deploying methods at a system scale to assess requirements for capacity and grid support services. PNNL researchers consider a range of meteorological conditions, equipment de-rates, and operational dynamics due to resilience threats that inform new planning and operational models. These capabilities inform the technoeconomic valuation of wind energy and guide reliable decarbonization. 

Challenges and Solutions 

Wind energy will be a pillar of a decarbonized electricity sector by 2035 and a net-zero economy by 2050. However, these national goals require solutions to two overarching challenges derived from a generation mix that will rely predominantly on inverter-based and variable renewable energy resources:  

• Reliable operations of generation and transmission networks require an understanding of energy, capacity, operating reserve, voltage support, and black start requirements. 
• Variable renewable energy resource generation challenges the adequacy of generation and transmission due to intermittency of generation and an increasing dependance on multi-state and interregional transmission footprints. 

To help address these challenges, PNNL composes and deploys methods at system scale to assess requirements for capacity and grid support services. PNNL's work in this area, for example, evaluates multiple pathways to East Coast offshore wind goals through coordinated transmission solutions under various combinations of electricity supply and demand. PNNL researchers also help advance understanding of the clean energy, capacity, and resilience value of offshore wind in southern Oregon and northern California, as well as assess operational impacts to system reliability and resilience.

Project Spotlight

West Coast Offshore Wind Transmission Study 

PNNL is leading a study in collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to examine how the nation can expand transmission to harness power from floating offshore wind for West Coast communities. The findings will be used to address transmission constraints that currently limit offshore wind development in the deep waters of the Pacific Ocean while supporting grid reliability, resilience, and ocean co-use through 2050. 

Objectives of the study include building nodal representations of offshore transmission and generation, specifying points of interconnection and cable routes, evaluating systems under resilience events, and quantifying socioeconomic impacts and benefits to coastal and ocean co-use communities.  

The study will leverage part of the $100 million in Department of Energy funding provided under the Inflation Reduction Act for offshore wind and interregional transmission analysis. The study also supports the Floating Offshore Wind Shot, which was launched by the Department of Energy and other departments to reduce the cost of floating offshore wind energy by more than 70 percent and deploy 15 gigawatts by 2035. 

Learn more about the West Coast Offshore Wind Transmission Study.