Projects funded under this FOA will address the emerging challenges and opportunities for grid planning and operation engineers and technicians arising from the power system’s transition to variable renewable energy sources and inverter-based power electronic grid interfaces. New state-of-the-art planning and operations tools will enable solar energy to be more optimally and reliably integrated and utilized within the electric power grid, providing Americans with more cheap and secure sources of clean energy.
This FOA will fund research in three (3) Topics Areas that develop technologies to address emerging challenges and enhance the benefits of VRE, IBR, and DER, including long-term planning activities and the daily operation of the grid. The new state-of-the-art planning and operations tools will enable solar energy to be more optimally utilized over time and allow it to be utilized in place of traditional generation, providing Americans with more cheap and secure sources of clean energy.
To succeed, the projects funded under this FOA will need to bring together diverse teams that include research and development partners, such as universities and national labs, industry partners, such as original equipment manufacturers and software vendors, and electric industry stakeholders, such as transmission and distribution (T&D) utilities and independent system operators. Industry partners should work with researchers in the technology development phases to ensure practical designs and then should work to create prototypes that are as close to commercialization as possible. Project teams should include electric utility and ISO partners to ensure solutions are developed to aid the grid planners and operators who will ultimately be the end users of the technologies.
The Operation and Planning Tools for Inverter-Based Resources Management and Availability for Future Power Systems (OPTIMA) FOA focuses on the research, development, and demonstration of innovative technologies and tools for the bulk power system in the following three topic areas:
For further details on the topic areas, see p. 16 of the FOA in Supporting Documents.
Estimated Total Program Funding: