Charting a new course towards innovation in electric grid technology, the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has launched a technical collaboration program designed to create a symbiotic relationship with businesses focusing on electric grid research. As reported by ORNL yesterday, the program, funded by the Transformer Resilience and Advanced Components program in the DOE’s Office of Electricity, is set to provide companies with invaluable access to national laboratory resources, which could be a significant boon in capturing market opportunities within this sector.
The effort to democratize access to advanced research facilities is encapsulated in ORNL’s Grid Research Integration and Deployment Center, GRID-C, located in Knoxville, Tennessee, the initiative both encourages startups and small businesses and provides them an opportunity to submit proposals for cost-shared research which can then transition from conception to deployment, by industry making the GRID-C a one-stop shop for grid innovation; this offers companies more than a dozen labs and test beds that cover a gamut of research themes including power electronics, energy storage, and cybersecurity.
Previously, GRID-C collaborations have been predominantly aligned with large corporations but with the introduction of this technical collaboration program, the process has been streamlined, opening doors for partners with different resource levels and focused research scopes. "This opens the door for small businesses to come in and use our amazing infrastructure to improve grid systems that will benefit everyone while bringing additional American jobs," Madhu Chinthavali, ORNL Electrical Systems Integration program director, told ORNL News. The program aims to encompass a full ecosystem of services, not just the physical facilities but also the intellectual capital and expertise in development and prototyping.
The Department of Energy believes that this initiative will serve as a conduit to transform ideas into actionable technology with the help of technical expertise and state-of-the-art equipment, "The Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity is providing a pipeline to match great ideas with technical know-how and state-of-the-art equipment, enabling more companies of all sizes to help create the electric grid of the future," Andre Pereira, program manager for DOE’s Office of Electricity, explained to ORNL. The collaborations are intended to mitigate commercial risks and expedite the evolution of new energy technologies and their adoption in the market, initiatives that align with broader public benefits like fortifying domestic supply chains and escalating the proficiency level within the energy sector and that is particularly significant when considering the potential job creation it brings.
A significant aspect of participating companies is that they must possess or develop a focus on advanced components, power stages, converter systems, or resource integration and control systems suited for the U.S. commercial sector. The announcement came during the annual Power Electronics Accelerator Consortium for Electrification (PACE) meeting in Knoxville, where the emphasis was on catalyzing the adoption of innovative grid technologies necessary for maintaining grid stability and facilitating the integration of renewable energy systems. UT-Battelle, the contractor managing ORNL for the DOE’s Office of Science, highlighted the office's continuous role in addressing grand challenges through basic physical science research.
