The Future is Here: Transforming Energy

Elizabeth DorisLaboratory Program Manager: State, Local, and Tribal GovernmentsPresented to The Center for the New Energy Economy Legislative AcademyBreckenridge, Colorado September 12, 2018

Title: Content Slide

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NREL advances the science and engineering of energy efficiency,

sustainable transportation, and renewable power technologies and

provides the knowledge to integrate and optimize energy systems.

Transforming Energy through Science

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National economic impact

facilities, renowned technology experts

World-classwith industry, academia, and

government

Partnershipsoperates as a

living laboratory

Campus National economic

impact

NREL at a Glance

$872Mannually

1,800

Employees,

early-career researchers and visiting scientists

\

nearly

750National economic impact

plus more than

400

Messaging + Blue Infographic

Content

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Bioenergy

Vehicle Technologies

Hydrogen

Sustainable Transportation

Buildings

Advanced Manufacturing

Government Energy Management

Energy Efficiency

Solar

Wind

Water

Geothermal

RenewablePower

Bioenergy

Vehicle Technologies

Hydrogen

Sustainable Transportation

Buildings

Advanced Manufacturing

Government Energy Management

Energy Efficiency

High-Performance Computing

Data and Visualizations

Energy SystemsIntegration

NREL’s Areas of Focus

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Costs for Renewable

Technologiesare Falling

Advanced energy technologies are providingreal-world solutions

• They drive a domestic energy economy and are increasingly cost-competitive

• Energy manufacturing and installations provide major opportunities for American workers

Source: DOE Revolution Now (2016)

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Renewables Represent Growing Share of U.S. Generation

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

Far from “alternative,” renewable energy is the new normal in the United States

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Renewable Electricity Futures Study

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Baselin

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30%

RE

40%

RE

50%

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60%

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70%

RE

80%

RE

90%

RE

% o

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Percent RE

Wind

PV

CSP

Hydropower

Geothermal

Biomass

Natural Gas

Coal

Nuclear

Variable Generation

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Like a laptop.

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• Understand how the system changes

• Understand how the system responds

More Detail, Deeper Insights

More Data, Better Resolution

• 1,000 times more wind and solar data, from GBs to TBs

• Transmission models have moved from 10s of nodes to nearly 100,000

• Every generator in North America, and many more around the world

• It’s not just the data, it’s the tools to use the data: reV (above)

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Seconds - Minutes Minutes - Seasons Years - Decades

Dynamics Operations Planning

Data

Sectors

Electricity

Electricity

ElectricityElectricity

Electricity

Electricity

Integrated Electricity

Modeling

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Dynamics Operations Planning

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Integrated Electricity Energy

Modeling

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Modeling at Scale

80% renewable energy appears

feasible, at a national level

• All renewables will play a role

• Flexibility will be crucial

• Demand is part of the solution

• Transmission and storage need to be built

What’s it telling us?

• The last 20% is the hardest

• Seasonal variability might be very hard to overcome

• Decarbonizing the rest of the energy sector becomes more valuable than getting the last 5%

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Incoming!

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What can I do with that?

NREL provides decision grade information Six currently available programs by jurisdiction and technology type• Over 1,800 completed requests since 2009• Impact measurement built in• Integrated into measured capacity building pipeline

Jurisdictions inquiries inform research agenda.• City carbon abatement potential • Unlocking Solar for Low- and Moderate-Income

Residents: A Matrix of Financing Options by Resident, Provider, and Housing Type

• PV Survivability

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkJ0p8O5ziM

Bridging the Gap

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Impetus

History The Software Applications to Date Roadmap

Context

Hawaii Energy Goals

Challenge

Affect many sectors

Need

Cross-sectoral look

Approach

Cross-sectoral model

Affect multiple

stakeholders

Stakeholder Input

Communi-cation

Visualization

Stakeholder discussions

US DoE Energy Transition Initiative sponsors NREL to support Hawaii State Energy Office in model development to explore paths to the 2045 RPS

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Core Model and Software Tools Criteria

History The Software Applications to Date Roadmap

Core model chosen for: Dev tools chosen for

• Accessibility, facilitating ongoing and ad-hoc use by stakeholders➢ Open-source➢ Inexpensive or free

• Extensibility / flexibility (beyond bulk power sector)

• Good documentation and in active development

• Rapid UI development capabilities for development of general-purpose, easily configurable tool

• Data management and collaboration features

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Using world class tools presented

through immersive user experiences and

leveraging high performance computing

capabilities, we are enabling multi-

stakeholder influenced, actionable

energy systems planning

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Known Complex Questions

“How will my technology perform in a complexmarketplace?”

“Do technology development and cost trends impact a broader energy system?”

“What are the optimal energy and infrastructure configurations to meet our future needs?”

What are the national/global implications for technology change?

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How energy technology development and cost trends impact a broader market?

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Scientific collaboration:

exploring opportunities for

supercomputing and advanced

visualization to enable

transformation

https://vimeo.com/natlrenewableenergylab/review/289144914/fc1a7d0c78

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Delivering

the Capability Broadly

•Mobile technology in development allows for collaborative analysis in a traveling immersive environment • Vision is to allow for disparate

stakeholders to interact in the same immersive environment to identify priorities • Applications:• Mobile stakeholder driven planning,

with access to real/near real time scenario adjustments and ‘what if’ analysis

• Prioritizing donor strategies in developing countries across multiple continents NREL | 24

www.nrel.gov

Thank you

Elizabeth.Doris@nrel.gov

This work was authored by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, operated by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308. The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the DOE or the U.S. Government. The U.S. Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this work, or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes.

State-of-the art

Tools

An integrated

and visualized

approach

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States and Local Governments:

Timely, Decision-Grade

InformationD

ata

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Tech

no

logy

Inte

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Rep

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