Energy experts have long grappled with the challenges of integrating modern technology into our antiquated electrical grid system. Now, in a significant development that could reshape our approach to grid planning, researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have unveiled a new software that promises to improve the capability to simulate electrical phenomena vastly. The tool, which specializes in electromagnetic transient analysis, or EMT, enables energy planners to predict how power electronics, like those found in renewable energy sources and electric vehicle chargers, will behave during disruptions such as faults in the power supply.
Traditionally, EMT grid modeling required an immense amount of computing power and time, which made its practicality questionable. However, armed with novel algorithms developed by ORNL researchers, this latest software eliminates the need for costly supercomputers. This is a significant boon to the industry, considering that both renewable energy and electric vehicles are cornerstones of modern infrastructures—elements that hinge on inverters to synchronize the flow of electrical current with the complex dynamics of the larger transmission system. According to an announcement by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, their new software has been engineered to handle tens to hundreds of inverter-based resources.
These resources, ranging from community power grids to battery storage systems, stand to benefit from the level of detail and speed the software provides. In a simulation landscape where time is critical, the ORNL team has successfully demonstrated that using multicore systems and graphics processing units, or GPUs, can reduce the analysis duration from days or hours to mere minutes. "Using GPUs, we have found we can simulate hundreds of inverter-based resources with tens of thousands of individual inverters," ORNL researcher Suman Debnath said, as per the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
ORNL is already in talks with various vendors to commercialize the software for broader applications, targeting local community grids as part of the initial rollout. Looking ahead, the research team is aiming to expand the software's capacity radically. Debnath stated their goal is to enable open-source software simulations of as many as 100,000 inverter-based power electronic devices across the U.S. grid within the coming decade. Such capability would facilitate the transition to a more sustainable energy landscape and strengthen the grid's reliability by improving planning for utilities and developers of renewable energy projects like solar and wind farms.
