POWER GRIDDOE Invests $39 Million to Support a 21st Century Electric Grid

The U.S. Department of Energy(DOE) announced up to $39 million for projects across DOE’s National Laboratories to help modernize the electricity grid. This investment from the 2023 Grid Modernization Initiative (GMI) lab call will support the development and deployment of concepts, tools, and technologies needed to measure, analyze, predict, protect, and control the grid of the future while incorporating equity and the best available climate science.

The electric grid faces increasingly complex and interdependent challenges. The projects announced today led by DOE’s world-class national laboratories will help ensure the best available solutions are used to equitably deliver resilient, reliable, clean, and affordable electricity across the country.

The selected projects are:

·  Medium Voltage Resource Integration Technologies (MERIT). The project led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) intends to develop modular, cost-effective, and scalable technologies at medium voltage (4.16 kV to 34.5 kV) that will reliably integrate a range of distributed energy resources (solar, wind, fuel cells, etc.) on to the grid. Success metrics include over 97% efficiency, a 40-year lifetime, and less than 10% down-time.

·  Assessment and Coordination of Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) Cybersecurity Standards. This project led by Sandia National Laboratories will work to implement and harmonize cybersecurity requirements and testing across the electric vehicle (EV) charging ecosystem. In coordination with the Biden Administration’s National Standards Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technology, this project will work with the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program, the DOE/DOT Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, and states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia to introduce new cybersecurity requirements related to EV chargers. The end products of this effort will be a standardized set of testing requirements for EVSE equipment and a “Security Star” EV Charging System Cybersecurity Certification Program (inspired by “Energy Star”).

·  Assessment and Coordination of DER Cyber Security Standards. This team led by NREL will work to assess, develop, refine, implement, and harmonize the multiple, potentially conflicting cybersecurity requirements established by standardization bodies for the distributed energy ecosystem. This project will also coordinate with the Biden Administration’s National Standards Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technology to enhance safe and secure distributed energy systems providing clean power nationwide. The end products of this effort will be a cybersecurity certification program and standard, along with standardized set of testing requirements for distributed energy resources.