PI: Javad Khazaei
Co-PI(s): N/A
University: Lehigh University
Industry partner: Duquesne Light Company
The integration of renewable energy resources into the grid faces many challenges, including synchronizing with the alternating current (AC) grid, high intermittency, and power loss due to grid failures. Using direct current (DC) integration of renewable assets to the AC electricity grid has recently been proposed to solve these issues by isolating the sources that operate on DC from the AC grid. The Duquesne Light Company (DLC) in Pittsburgh, PA is integrating DC busbars into their AC grid to integrate customer-owned renewable assets and energy storage devices. However, it remains unknown whether such integration will work under varying grid conditions (i.e., fault conditions, load changes, outages) and needs to be tested in a laboratory environment before it can be demonstrated in real-world conditions. This project will address these challenges by 1) developing a simulation platform that allows testing and integration of various customer-owned assets (i.e., solar photovoltaic, battery energy storage, and electric vehicle) to the AC electricity grid using DC busbars and an interfacing DC/AC converter, 2) analyzing the stability issues and challenges during grid contingencies as a result of DC integration of distributed energy resources, and 3) developing robust control techniques to reliably integrate renewables, storage devices, and electric vehicles to the AC electricity grid. The PITA award to Lehigh University will bring expertise in microgrid modeling and control of renewable resources to solve existing challenges of the utility partner for decarbonization of electric utilities through renewables and storage. Additionally, the new partnership between Lehigh University and Duquesne Light Company will provide preliminary data and enable long-term collaboration on federal funding opportunities through the Department of Energy (DoE) in 2023.