EPRI launches initiative to facilitate research in grid-enhancing technologies

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has launched a new initiative to spur research and facilitate deployment of Grid-Enhancing Technologies (GETs).

EPRI’s Grid-Enhancing Technologies for a Smart Energy Transition (GET SET) Initiative aims to support the testing and demonstration of technologies to learn and share lessons on cost reductions, life expectancy, and reliability.

GETs are hardware or software that can reduce congestion costs and improve integration of renewables while increasing capacity and reliability. GETs can defer or reduce the need for significant investment in new infrastructure projects and increase the use of renewables, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

This is critical because additional capacity on the U.S. electric grid is required to meet the surging electricity demands driven by the proliferation of AI data centers, electrification, and industrial growth.

“GETS can increase the capacity of the existing transmission system now, while working to build new capacity in the long term. Testing and vetting GETs as they are being deployed for specific applications will increase understanding, improve reliability, and reduce risk to support deployment on a broader scale,” Daniel Brooks, vice president of integrated grid and energy systems at EPRI, said. “Collaborating with utilities, technology providers, and other stakeholders, EPRI is performing rigorous laboratory testing and field deployments to increase confidence and improve performance for deployment.”

The GET SET initiative is focused on four technologies that can increase capacity for transmission:

• Dynamic Line Ratings (DLR), which can provide transmission ratings that accurately reflect real-time conditions.
• Advanced Conductors, which use new and existing materials to increase the thermal capacity of power lines.
• Advanced Power Flow Control (PFC), which can actively change the way power flows through the transmission lines.
• Topology Optimization, which is software that analyzes the transmission network that can increase total network flows, lower costs, and maintain reliability of the system.

EPRI is working with several organizations on this, including the North American Electric Reliability Corporation Energy Systems Integration Group, and the North American Transmission Forum.

Further, nearly two dozen electric companies helped create GET SET through the Utility Advisory Group, including ATC, Ameren, California ISO, Georgia Transmission, National Grid, Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), New York Power Authority, Portland General Electric, Salt River Project, Southern California Edison, Vermont Electric Power Company, and GCC Interconnection Authority (GCCIA).

“Collaboration is essential as we address the ever-evolving challenges facing our industry and the increased energy demand from electric transportation, industrial manufacturing, and data centers,” Shawn Schukar, chairman and president, Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois, said. “This initiative will help provide guidance for the successful deployment of GETs in the years and decades ahead and could play an important role in providing affordable and reliable energy for our customers.”

EPRI recently hosted a workshop with more than 75 organizations in Atlanta to share lessons learned from laboratory tests, deployments, and EPRI’s latest research. It helped identify priority research needs to assess and integrate these technologies into current and future transmission systems.

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