Integrating Renewables into the Grid: a Front Lines Perspective

Live on-line Zoom presentation

The common refrain has been how renewables will break our electric grid with their intermittent, distributed supply, but it is happening all across the country every day, everywhere. But that doesn’t make it easy. Learn the real work of integrating renewables onto the grid from NREL scientist Ben Kroposki who shares his front lines experiences.

After attending this presentation, one of our members emailed us the following: “After being involved with Archie and Bill early on with MAREA, that presentation on ZOOM last night, was the most inspiring and informative in my experience. Thanks! To view the presentation click on the screen below:

Below is a copy of the slides presented:

Ben’s presentation describes the challenges as renewables become a more significant part of the electric grid. Across the US, more states and electric utilities are setting 100% clean energy goals of which renewable technologies will be a major player. Variable renewable energy like wind and solar photovoltaics (PV) differ from conventional generation in that they use power electronic converters instead of synchronous generators to connect to electric power grids. At small levels, the power grid can easily handle the integration of variable renewable energy. At much higher levels, there are a number of technical concerns that must be addressed to ensure reliable and economic operations. This presentation will discuss the challenges and solutions to operating power system with high levels of variable renewables and how power electronic interfaces can be used to solve some of these challenges. 

Dr. Ben Kroposki is the Director of the Power Systems Engineering Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) where he leads NREL’s strategic research in the design, planning and operations of electrical power systems. He has over 30 years of experience in the design, testing, and integration of renewable and distributed power systems and has more than 150 publications in these areas with over 9,000 citations. Dr. Kroposki received his BSEE and MSEE from Virginia Tech and Ph.D. from the Colorado School of Mines. As an IEEE Fellow, Dr. Kroposki was recognized for his leadership in renewable and distributed energy systems integration. Dr. Kroposki is also an Adjunct professor at the Colorado School of Mines and University of Colorado and teaches courses on integrating renewable energy into power systems.