MSL teams for Advanced Storage Architectures

MSL and researchers from  the University of New Mexico and Sandia National Laboratories are collaborating on a research project in Advanced Storage Architectures (ASA). This conceptual framework, developed by MSL, takes a holistic, systems innovation approach to optimizing the economic and operational deployment of energy storage throughout the grid. It is a specific thrust under the Microgrid Systems Laboratory’s New Grid Paradigms and Complex Adaptive Grid initiatives, and has two main interlocking components: Storage Everywhere, and Storage First.

Storage Everywhere

Storage Everywhere (SE) hypothesizes that deploying energy storage at many interacting levels, ranging from co-location at utility scale renewable generation sites, to sub-stations, to C&I facilities, to residential systems, and all the way to the device level, can result in significant improvements in economic and operational efficiency. This will be especially true if the grid is equipped to optimize system-wide performance with advanced intelligence, data acquisition and analysis, AI-enabled forecasting, machine learning algorithms, and appropriate controls. It may also be feasible to identify additional storage sites on the national grid purely from an optimization standpoint that would benefit overall performance.

An analogical frame of reference can be found in internet data caching, in which high priority and frequently requested data and content are cached in optimal locations on the system for most efficient access and delivery, from device-level (e.g., laptop browser cache) to industrial-scale cloud server farms.

Storage First

Storage First (SF) hypothesizes that a paradigm shift in how we design topologies and architectures for storage is needed to extract the most value from the storage fleet. This will include the principles of the SE approach, and in addition will focus on a conceptual frame that treats storage assets as the primary generation source (as opposed to backup), and utilizes conventional generation assets as adjuncts with the primary purpose of maintaining the optimal state of charge in the storage fleet at a given location and time.

This can be illustrated conceptually by the design of a hybrid vehicle, i.e., the internal combustion engine exists to charge the battery, not to drive the wheels; the battery is the primary fuel/locomotive source. Architecturally, the paradigm shift can be viewed as:

Historical:      Dispatchable generation follows load

Present:          Flexible load follows variable generation

Future:            Storage follows flexible load and variable generation

Real-World Exemplars

Interesting examplars of the proliferation of storage at multiple levels, often with grid intelligence capabilities, include such commercial startups as EQUOR, which provides battery storage systems for commercial facilities to optimize their energy operations; XCharge, which provides a similar device for EV charging stations; a pilot project by Con Edison in New York to couple small batteries with residential air conditioners; and a project by the Carrier corporation with EPRI (the Electric Power Research Institute, the research arm of the utility industry) to investigate integrating storage with Carrier’s world-class industrial HVAC equipment. These trends show that storage is becoming increasingly pervasive and multi-level, and underscore the need for, and opportunities in, orchestration and coordinated optimization to improve grid operations

Research Program

UNM research scientist Dr. Ali Bidram has developed a detailed ASA research program, and the consortium has applied for funding under the New Mexico Grid Modernization Grant Program.