The state of Hawaii could be a brochure for a future powered by renewable energy: Photovoltaic panels are as ubiquitous as swimming pools. But despite being an energy model for the rest of the U.S., Hawaii has had trouble actually using the power the panels provide. During peak hours the sun contributes so much electricity that it threatens to destabilize the entire grid.
"No utility wants to run experiments on a grid while it's delivering power to customers."
To help utility companies conquer challenges such as these, in late 2013 the U.S. Department of Energy opened a $135 million test facility that can simulate almost any electrical-grid problem. The 182,500-square-foot Energy Systems Integration Facility, on the National Renewable Energy Laboratory campus in Golden, Colorado, is the only place in the country that can perform the megawatt-scale simulations utility companies require if they are to be prepared for the future.
"No utility wants to run experiments on a grid while it's delivering power to customers. They need to keep the lights on," says associate lab director Bryan Hannegan. Here we explain how four of ESIF's labs perform solar-energy simulations so your local power company doesn't have to. (See map at the bottom.)
1. Smart Power Lab
5,300 square feet
When ESIF helped solar-power-systems provider SolarCity and Hawaii's largest electrical utility investigate their grid-overload problem, the researchers started in the Smart Power Lab. It contains three homes stripped down to the electrical essentials: appliances, an a/c unit, and lights. One is traditional, with no smart devices. Another is an optimized smart house. The third is a hybrid. During the Hawaii test, ESIF tested residential-size smart inverters, machines that can decide when and how to move energy around to prevent the grid from being overwhelmed.
During peak hours the sun contributes so much electricity that it threatens to destabilize the grid
2. Power Systems Integration Lab
8,600 square feet
To analyze transient power increases on a larger scale, ESIF uses the Power Systems Integration Lab. In this room components like commercial-scale smart inverters, which do the same thing as residential inverters but for solar farms, are tested on their ability to smooth out spikes and direct current to homes that need it or to a battery for storage.
3. High Performance Computing Data Center
10,000 square feet
Playing with a data set as large as a simulated energy grid requires massive computing power. ESIF's central supercomputer, which can process input from anywhere on the campus, is one of the fastest in the world, performing 1.19 million billion calculations per second. It can quickly scale up the three houses in the Smart Power Lab to simulate a 10,000-home community, then analyze how many inverters would be needed to stabilize it. Researchers can then tweak the parameters, asking questions like: What if everyone in this town had two refrigerators?
4. 3D Energy Integration Visualization Room
Two screens at 3,540 x 2,790–pixel resolution
This is where designing a utility grid becomes a virtual-reality version of The Sims. When a researcher enters, a set of infrared cameras notes his location and adjusts a 3D visual model of a grid around him. The researcher can then decide that an inverter is not in an optimal location, pick it up, and move it. The room will send the new location to the supercomputer, which will change the simulation in the labs down the hall.
About the building
While preparing the U.S. for clean energy, ESIF isn't wasting any energy. The building, partially warmed by the supercomputer's waste heat, is certified LEED Platinum.
This story appears in the July/August 2015 issue of Popular Mechanics.