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Manufacturing processes represent large, concentrated loads that can provide significant flexibility benefits by modulating their power demand. The advantage of focusing on such industrial-type users is that—unlike residential and commercial users—their electricity consumption is largely independent of human preferences and schedules. This means that their loads may be shaped and changed in time to assist…

I’ve been a researcher in power electronics for a long time, mostly in grid applications like high-voltage DC (HVDC), flexible AC transmission systems (FACTS), distributed generation, and microgrids. Those are still active areas of research, but for me, the really interesting research questions right now are not about individual technologies but about the system challenge:…

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) Order 2222 has triggered a much-needed nationwide discourse on how to integrate distributed energy resources (DERs) into wholesale markets. At the same time, our efforts to value and compensate DERs for distribution-level benefits are barely scratching the surface, a gap that is severely constraining progress on decarbonization, resilience, and…

Evolving Electricity Supply and Demand Electrification of end uses and the decarbonization of electricity supply are among the key strategies in the broader transition to economy-wide decarbonization. Each one is rooted in separate parts of the energy system, but they are inherently linked. As electricity is increasingly used to meet energy demands within residential and…

The increasing percentage of distributed energy resources (DERs) brings a degree of uncertainty in bulk power system planning and operations. Additionally, it introduces an element of uncertainty with regard to distribution planning and operations, especially with regard to the dynamic behavior of DERs in juxtaposition with the behavior of induction motors. Legacy interconnection standards such…

If you follow ESIG conferences and webinars you will find some themes and ideas that run through many of the presentations: Power systems can operate reliably with high penetrations of variable energy sources. Certain ways of operating and planning power systems work well with renewables, and those ways are pretty different from the traditional industry…

The planet’s current energy system based on fossil fuel–derived energy has come with unwanted environmental impacts, largely driven by emissions that impact climate and local air and water quality. As society drives toward a cleaner, more sustainable energy system, the cost improvements and scale of wind and solar energy are enabling an economically viable transition…

We Gotta Get Out of this Place Today we are seeing massive build out of wind and solar PV generation in places that are remote from denser population centers that constitute the lion’s share of load. Around the world, decarbonization plans will accelerate this trend. Earlier this year, Chris Clack told you about the desirable,…

About The Series: ESIG members play many different kinds of roles in energy systems integration and have followed unique paths to their current positions. This “Career Perspectives” blog series taps into the diversity of experiences and perspectives of ESIG members through interviews that explore their educational backgrounds, career trajectories, key decision points, and mentorship experiences,…

About The Series: ESIG members play many different kinds of roles in energy systems integration and have followed unique paths to their current positions. This “Career Perspectives” blog series taps into the diversity of experiences and perspectives of ESIG members through interviews that explore their educational backgrounds, career trajectories, key decision points, and mentorship experiences,…