ESET
NREL Press Release:
Energy Secretary Dedicates ESIF at NREL
September 18, 2013
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image
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz (center) joins NREL Director Dan
Arvizu (left) and Steve Hammond, director of NREL's Computational Science
Center, at the unveiling of Peregrine, the newest Energy Department
supercomputer. The high performance computer inside NREL's new Energy Systems
Integration Facility is capable of 1.2 quadrillion calculations per second. NREL
collaborated with Hewlett-Packard and Intel to develop the innovative,
warm-water-cooled supercomputer.
Credit: Dennis Schroeder
On Wednesday, September 11, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz dedicated a new
federal lab building he said will be crucial to bringing more renewable energy
onto the nation's energy system and building the reliable, clean energy
infrastructure America vitally needs.
Moniz officially dedicated the
Energy Systems
Integration Facility (ESIF) at the Energy Department's National Renewable
Energy Laboratory (NREL), where industry and utilities will go to demonstrate
their new equipment and strategies at megawatt scale.
The ESIF "will be a major focus of DOE to help us transform the energy system
to the one we need in 2030," Moniz said before a packed crowd of scientists,
policymakers, and industry leaders at NREL's Golden, Colorado, campus.
Moniz, who was confirmed as Energy Secretary in May, said tremendous advances
in wind, solar, and fuel cell energy have pushed those technologies to the
threshold of being major presences on the nation's electricity grid.
However, that presents a challenge because solar and wind are intermittent
resources. And that challenge is complicated by increased severe weather events
such as Hurricane Sandy that knocked out power in 21 states last year, Moniz
said, emphasizing the need for a more resilient infrastructure in the near
future.
Climate Action Plan to Guide Policy
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Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz speaks to scientists,
policymakers, and industry leaders at the dedication ceremony for the new Energy
Systems Integration Facility at NREL on September 11.
Credit: Dennis
Schroeder
The Secretary's first weeks on the job coincided with President Obama
unveiling his Climate Action Plan, which focuses on doing more to address the
risks of climate change. "I said that first day, 'I'm not here to debate the
undebatable,'" Moniz said, referring to the strong belief among almost all
climate scientists that the Earth is getting warmer due in part to fossil-fuel
emissions in the atmosphere.
"We need to frankly acknowledge that we are facing the effects of climate
change even as we try to kind of beat the clock with mitigation and adaptation,"
Moniz said. "Our script comes from the President's Climate Action Plan. Both
mitigation and adaptation to climate change are very much part of that
agenda."
So now the nation's focus must be on energy integration — on delivering
distributed energy to the grid when the sun shines and the wind blows, while
keeping it as reliable as when the grid was a one-way delivery system of
fossil-fuel-based energy, Moniz said. The new ESIF is "the step up we need to
elevate the focus on energy systems integration."
The ESIF will also play a key role in helping regional utilities design
resilient microgrids that will bring back power almost immediately to
communities that now are bathed in darkness when storms such as Hurricane Sandy
hit, Moniz said. "We need to reap the benefits of our tremendous technological
advances to start developing solutions for our energy system."
Supercomputer's Green Data Center Teamed NREL with HP
Just before his talk, Moniz pushed a button that inaugurated the ESIF's high
performance computer Peregrine, which can do more than a quadrillion
calculations per second and is integral to the ESIF's capabilities. Peregrine
supports NREL's research into energy systems integration, renewable energy
research, and energy efficiency technologies, and will lead to increased
efficiency and lower costs for clean energy technologies. NREL teamed with
Hewlett-Packard to develop the supercomputer.
Paul Santeler, vice president of the Hyperscale Business Group at
Hewlett-Packard, said the collaboration with NREL on the high performance
computer and data center was the best partnership he's been a part of because
both the company and laboratory learned so much — knowledge that will help other
data centers go deep green. The data center for the Peregrine supercomputer in
the ESIF is unique, because it uses the excess heat generated by the computer to
warm water, and then uses that water to heat the entire building.
"When Steve Hammond [director of NREL's Computational Science Center] told me
wanted to put in a petaflop-scale high performance computer, and that he wanted
to cool it with warm water and use that water that comes off to heat the
building, and then use the excess heat to warm the cement outside, I said,
'
Riiight,'" Santeler said. "We were doing something very unique and
different — breaking boundaries. But the bottom line is, we nailed it. And we're
making it commercially available so others can take advantage."
Moniz got a firsthand look at the ESIF's computing capabilities when he went
into the ESIF's visualization room, donned special glasses, and saw on a
16-foot, 3-D-like screen how wind turbine blades can alter the wind flow as it
approaches other turbines downstream. The same visualization room can give
scientists a shifting, human-sized view of the inside of the molecules of a
solar cell or biofuel.
"This will take us to a whole new ballgame," Moniz said. "It's an enormous
advantage."
Utility CEO Stresses the Importance of Energy Integration
Xcel Energy CEO and Chairman Ben Fowke said the ESIF will grow even more
important now that solar and wind are in many cases cost competitive with fossil
fuels. He noted that Xcel leads the nation in wind power. His company now can
purchase 20 years of wind power for less money than the comparable megawatts
from natural gas, saving customers $800 million over the next two decades.
Wind forecasting software developed at NREL and elsewhere saved Xcel $20
million last year alone, and NREL research on the effect of cloud cover on solar
energy will save even more, he said. Better forecasting means utilities can be
more confident about the reliability of renewables, and that means less need for
reserve power.
"We can really unlock the power of the future beginning today," Fowke said.
"We're really excited about this next chapter in NREL's progress, and the
integration of distributed resources into our grid. I'm confident our mission to
deliver safe, clean, reliable power at a competitive price is in good hands
because of partners like NREL."
Later, Fowke noted that Xcel during certain hours uses 80% wind energy, and
so far it's gone off without a hitch. "Our number-one job is to make sure our
customers can rely on the lights staying on," he said. "As the energy portfolio
diversifies, we'll be depending on wind and solar forecasts and the capabilities
of the ESIF more than ever."
Partnerships Announced with Toyota, U.S. Army
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Three leaders in energy — from left, Assistant Secretary of
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy David Danielson, Energy Secretary Ernest
Moniz, and NREL Director Dan Arvizu – stand in front of the new Energy Systems
Integration Facility.
Credit: Dennis Schroeder
The Energy Department also made two other important announcements while the
Secretary was at NREL.
NREL will work with the Energy Department and Toyota North America to
research ways to integrate plug-in electric vehicles into the power grid.
Scientists and engineers at the ESIF and NREL's Vehicle Testing and Integration
Facility will use 20 Prius plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to develop and
explore ways to help grid operators accommodate the fast-growing U.S. electric
vehicle fleet.
Tom Stricker, vice president of energy and environmental research for Toyota
North America, said "this new, amazing facility" will be crucial to analyzing
the grid effects of Toyota's new plug-in Priuses. Hybrid, plug-in electric, and
alternative fuel vehicles now comprise 16% of all Toyotas sold, he noted.
Stricker also said that Toyota will reveal its first production hydrogen fuel
cell vehicle — a mid-sized sedan — at the Tokyo Motor Show in November. Its
North American debut will be at the Consumer Electronics Show in Los Angeles in
December.
He said Toyota will continue to work closely with NREL researchers at the
ESIF. "We need continued collaboration between industry and government to solve
the problems we face."
NREL is also working with the U.S. Army to develop a power system comprised
of solar energy, battery power, and generators that can provide electricity to
forward operating bases. Using the integrated test capabilities of the ESIF,
NREL will complete a prototype of the Consolidated Utility Base Energy (CUBE)
system and validate its performance, reliability, and projected energy
savings.
ESIF's Role Will Be Transformative
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NREL Senior Scientist Kenny Gruchalla (left) explains a wind
turbine model at the Energy Systems Integration Facility Insight Lab to Energy
Secretary Ernest Moniz (wearing special glasses) during a tour for the
dedication of the facility.
Credit: Dennis Schroeder
NREL Director Dan Arvizu said that without partners such as Toyota, Xcel,
Hewlett-Packard, and the Energy Department, the ESIF wouldn't be what it is.
The ESIF will allow industry decision makers to model what an increasing
penetration of solar or wind energy onto the grid would look like in real time,
at a level of accuracy and detail never seen before, Arvizu said.
Manufacturers can test new energy equipment at megawatt power, Arvizu added.
Vendors can analyze the optimal equipment balance as the energy system adds
storage and two-way data sharing. ESIF brings together pertinent tools to
integrate technologies in ways that weren't possible before.
David Danielson, the Energy Department's assistant secretary of energy for
renewable energy and energy efficiency, lauded NREL for having the vision seven
years ago to know that such a facility as ESIF was needed — and for pushing for
it with the Department. "At every step, NREL provides critical leadership that
guides policy."
Technological Success Speeds the Move to Energy Integration
Moniz noted that for solar, wind, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and fuel cell
batteries, the past few decades have seen plummeting prices and a huge rise in
deployment.
The cost of solar power has plummeted 99%; wind led all technologies in new
deployments last year; the price of LED bulbs has fallen from $50 to $15, and
each one can save a homeowner $100 over a lifetime; and fuel cell prices have
dropped sharply, while safety and longevity have improved greatly.
"A lot of us still have this lingering idea that these technologies are five
or 10 years away, but really, we are on the threshold," Moniz said. "Each of
these will be a material part of our energy system very soon."
That makes the ESIF and the successful integration of myriad forms of energy
all the more crucial, Moniz added. Referring to the battering the nation's
infrastructure took from recent extreme weather events such as Hurricane Sandy,
and the need for a more flexible, integrated system that accommodates clean
energy, Moniz said: "Mother Nature is pointing out that if we don't take care of
our energy system, she will."
Learn more about
Energy Systems Integration at NREL.
— Bill Scanlon
