Title: Advanced Energy Systems Integration at a Pace and Scale that Matters.

Speaker: Dr. Martha Symko-Davies, Laboratory Program Manager, Energy Systems Integration (ESI), National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL), Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) conducts megawatt-scale research for the integration of clean, reliable, and secure energy technologies. Through a combination of advanced capabilities, the ESIF provides academic researchers with the necessary tools to identify and resolve the challenges associated with large-scale integration of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.
ESIF research is aligned with academic and industry needs and implements “high-impact” integrated research aligned with the Department of Energy’s Grid Modernization Multi-Year Program Plan, which aims to develop the concepts, tools, and technologies needed to measure, analyze, predict, protect, and control the grid of the future. These academic and industry research partnerships meet the following criteria:
Demonstrate the use of multiple technologies (such as storage, wind, solar, hydrogen, and buildings
Address the challenges outlined in DOE’s Grid Modernization Multi-Year Program Plan
Demonstrate region-wide or company impact as well as national scalability
Provide lessons that could be implemented across the United States
NREL has worked with many academic partners on high-impact integrated projects for significant innovation ranging from high-penetration renewable energy microgrids to home energy management systems that require advanced communications and controls to manage bi-directional power flow to and from distributed assets such as solar panels, energy storage and electric vehicles and will describe these university partnerships through our visiting academic scholars program.