Grid enhancing technologies – a potentially cost-effective option for transmission upgrades

A new study from the US Department of Energy indicates that grid enhancing technologies can be cost-effective in avoiding renewables curtailment in the short term.

In addition, they remain useful to facilitate the interconnection of future generation resources while also providing situational awareness and flexibility to the network in the long term.

Grid enhancing technologies as they are known in the US encompass hardware and software such as power flow controllers and dynamic line rating to manage congestion and otherwise maximise power flow across the transmission system.

While work is underway by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on incentive mechanisms for technology adoption, the DOE study is focused on quantifying the benefits of the technologies, with a case study in the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) service area.

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Among the findings are that power flow controllers and/or dynamic line rating could lead to avoided curtailment costs of up to $8.1 million, compared with traditional upgrades of $13.6 million. Moreover, the grid enhancing technologies did not integrate as much renewable generation as the traditional solutions.

However, they also cost less, have a shorter payback period and may be faster to implement, indicating their potential in deferring or reducing the need for traditional upgrades.

Among other findings, the impact of the technologies is highly location-dependent and should be assessed on a per case basis.

The DOE recommends that grid enhancing technologies should be evaluated as a candidate technology in resource and transmission planning and directly compared against traditional technologies.

As there are gaps in public knowledge with respect to the technologies, a task force should be charged with providing the industry with the data needed for their fair consideration.

In addition, there needs to be a shift away from ‘pilots’ where the technology is considered in isolation, rather than as part of a ‘business-as-normal’ approach, with enhanced training for planning engineers and grid so that they are versed in new approaches when
faced with the implementation of innovation.

In order to accelerate adoption, further research is needed, e.g. to expand the scope of the technologies to include transformers, energy storage and dispatchable demand side resources and to identify the optimal solution set alongside traditional
upgrades.

Finally, mechanisms are needed to ensure grid enhancing technologies are implemented and utilised for the benefit of ratepayers as appropriate.