The United States Department of Energy (U.S DOE), a cabinet-level agency of the American government concerned with the nation’s policies regarding energy landscape, has reportedly announced USD 25 million in funding. The investment infusion will be for ten projects as part of the PERFORM( Performance-based Energy Resource Feedback, Optimization, and Risk Management) program. Sources cite that, the agency has granted this fund to develop cutting-edge management systems that indicate the relative delivery risk of each asset, such as power plants and wind farms, and balance the combined risk of all assets across the grid. Speaking on which, Mark W. Menezes, Under Secretary of Energy said that ensuring the reliability of America’s critical electric grid and energy infrastructure is of paramount importance for the nation’s energy as well as national security. He further added that investing in novel technologies and systems that reduce risk and boost the reliability of U.S. energy would help the nation to utilize abundant energy resources in a more secure and integrated manner. Lane Genatowski, Energy Director of Advanced Research Projects Agency said that the grid infrastructure is a vital asset in supplying reliable electric power to millions of American people across the nation. The DOE’s PERFORM teams will develop the tools to optimize renewable energy resources into the grid, reducing energy impact, improving reliability, and further strengthening the road towards sustainable energy independence, he added. According to sources, PERFORM teams will create risk scores that will help communicate the delivery risk of an asset’s offer, say, like the reliability of electric power from a solar plant because of climatic conditions on a given day. These teams will also create grid management systems which internally record uncertainty and assess the system risk to surpass or meet a set baseline. This risk-driven program will help grid operators to efficiently maintain a demand-supply balance and system reliability, even in adverse conditions like the intermittency in renewable energy. In turn, they can efficiently manage the system and evaluate the true value of crucial reliability services in real-time, permitting for a more diverse energy mix. Source Credit -Â https://www.energy.gov/articles/department-energy-announces-25-million-grid-management-systems-and-risk-assessment-systems
