EPRI co-hosted the “Powering the Future Toward Net Zero” forum in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, in collaboration with GCCIA, GO15, and MED-TSO. Featuring more than 35 speakers from nearly a dozen countries, the event emphasized the need for collaboration among the broader global energy sector to enable knowledge transfer and meet clean energy challenges head on.
Below are responses to some of the audience questions that were raised at the event.
Q: What additional flexibility solutions do we expect the grid operator to have in the future?
A: A wide range of flexibility solutions are in various stages of deployment. This includes supply side measures, where updated power plant designs and operational practices of thermal and hydro resources can provide more flexibility. Storage is expected to be increasingly important, with the exploration of new, long-duration technologies, as well as continued widescale deployment of lithium ion.
Demand side programs to encourage flexibility from large loads such as data centers, desalination, and large manufacturing could be a significant resource in the future. Another source on the demand side could be the enablement of mass market flexibility, through aggregations of distributed energy resources, such as batteries, electric vehicles, smart thermostats, and other consumer equipment.
Grid enhancing technologies (GET) and deployment of energy storage and other technologies can provide flexibility in the energy delivery system. Finally, grid operators will need new tools to access flexibility, which may be through new ancillary services, control room tools to match the needs and resources in the system, and financial mechanisms to incentivize resources to provide flexibility.
Q: Do you think the pace at which decarbonization-related innovations are moving will help to achieve 2050 to 2060 climate targets?
A: Getting to net-zero in the coming decades will require a variety of actions. In the near term, rapid and large-scale deployment of solar and wind, in some cases coupled with batteries, as well as nuclear power, can enable a significant reduction in carbon. The Gulf region is taking significant steps with solar, wind, and nuclear power plants being built across the region, closely followed by batteries.
To fully decarbonize requires new sources of clean, firm, energy. Options may include advanced nuclear technology, carbon capture and storage, long-duration energy storage, hydrogen, demand flexibility, and increased interconnections. To ensure successful deployment of these technologies and meet the ambitious targets, piloting and then scaling up technologies is crucial. Through its Low-Carbon Resource Initiative, EPRI is working to understand the role different technologies may play.
Q: What are the optimal planning criteria to be considered in renewable energy sources (RES) integration to the grid that ensures both reliability and capital efficiency?
A: Planning the future system to maintain or improve upon existing reliability criteria, while recognizing the need to not overbuild the system, is paramount. With increased RES integration, planning and reliability criteria updates must reflect the variable, energy-limited, and inverter-based nature of these resources and account for extreme weather conditions that may occur every decade or so.
EPRI has made recommendations to update planning criteria in its recent Resource Adequacy Initiative. Other factors such as reduced inertia, increased presence of inverter-based resources, and the role of batteries also need to be considered in reliability criteria. For example, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation is currently updating many of its standards in response to increased penetration of inverter-based resources. To maintain efficiency and improve flexibility in the system, it is important to maximize existing technologies, such as GET deployment or other demand side measures.
Q: Digital twins are used in other industries to improve both planning and operations of critical assets. Do you see this applicable to the power system, and if yes, how and what do we need to get there?
EPRI is working with many of its members on digital twins, such as its nearly decade-long work on digital twins for gas turbines. These physics-based digital twins can enhance performance monitoring and maintenance strategies with real-world member applications. Gas turbine digital twins can provide critical insights by identifying changes in component performance before and after outages, assisting in root cause analysis of failures, and predicting the impact of various upgrades on plant performance.
Through accurate predictions of future performance and degradation rates, digital twins also enable condition-based maintenance planning. Their applications include diagnostics, transient response optimization for renewable integration, and power production planning. By leveraging data from real-time operations, digital twins facilitate better decision-making and operational efficiency in managing gas turbines. For more about EPRI’s ongoing digital twins work, reach out to Dr. Lea Boche to discuss further.
Q: What efforts are complete or underway to convert existing gas turbines to hydrogen fuel?
EPRI is testing hydrogen use in gas turbines as part of its Low-Carbon Resources Initiative and Gas Turbine R&D Program. Ongoing demonstrations include six projects focused on integrating hydrogen into power generation, which include four gas turbines, one reciprocating engine, and one fuel cell. Objectives are to operate the units without major modifications while measuring impacts on emissions such as CO2, NOx, and CO, and overall unit performance. EPRI aims to develop best practices for hydrogen blending and gather insights to inform future research and development needs.
Additionally, the organization is working on optimizing hydrogen blending strategies to enhance combustion efficiency and reduce emissions, thereby supporting the transition to low-carbon energy systems. EPRI has worked with equipment manufacturers, members, and hydrogen supply chain vendors to conduct several large-scale hydrogen test burns at operating power plants. For a comprehensive review, reach out to Bobby Noble.
Q: How do you see the way to upskill the current workforce and prepare the next generation of the workforce in order to continue to innovate and progress?
A: The rapid pace of change and the amount of information requires people to continuously learn and upskill. There is also a shift in competencies toward creating new value, reconciling tensions and differences, and taking responsibility. This requires a new approach to learning, beyond just what is needed to get a task done.
Instructors are transitioning passive, lecture-style classrooms to active learning environments with peer-to-peer activities that move the focus from the instructors to the learners. Just like using YouTube and other resources to solve a problem at home, learners are studying new concepts before engaging with an instructor, often by leveraging micro-credentials that are building blocks for people as they progress through their career. Information at people’s fingertips enables ideation and innovation. For more information, see Modernizing Energy Workforce Training.
To hear the discussions for yourself, check out the videos live-streamed from the event:
🎥 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmlaLktJbOg
🎥 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLsxuKmadmc
