Supporting Texas Power – News Center

Wednesday, May 22, 2024 • Brian Lopez:
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A group of researchers at the University of Texas at Arlington has received a federal grant to find ways to increase the reliability and resilience of the Texas power grid, avoid power transmission congestion, reduce customers' bills and facilitate the production of clean energy in Texas.

UTA is collaborating with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) on this grant and will support the ongoing Texas Aggregated Distributed Energy Resources (ADER) pilot project.

“We are very excited about this grant,” said Yichen Zhang, principal investigator and assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering. “This project has the potential to support the Texas power grid and help the people of Texas.”

This work is supported by a $1.6 million grant from the Biden-Harris administration to improve regional and state wholesale electricity markets.

The team will primarily examine the feasibility of introducing ADER into wholesale electricity markets, particularly the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). ADER is the collection of behind-the-meter energy devices and functions that can be called upon to perform an action such as reducing energy consumption or providing more energy.

This includes the development of Emerge-ADER: Energy Market Evaluation and Resource Planning for Grid Evolution with Aggregated Distributed Energy Resources, a holistic bottom-up ADER planning platform.

“Distributed energy resources are a key component of the transition to a safer, cleaner and more resilient energy future. By leveraging their flexibility, diversity and distributed nature, ADERs enable their participation in wholesale energy markets. They also improve market efficiency, reliability and sustainability,” said Wei-Jen Lee, interim chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering.

“The ability of distributed energy resources to support the larger grid has long been untapped, and I am excited to see the right partners coming together to bridge the gap and make this possible,” said Chris Boyer, associate professor in the Resource Management Program. and energy technology.

Peter Crouch, dean of the College of Engineering, said as the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex continues to grow rapidly, the strain on the electric grid will only increase.

“This research is an important step toward understanding how to ensure Texans have access to electricity during extreme weather events, preventing loss of income and lives,” Crouch said.

The focus of the project is taking into account the needs of the industry. The team will coordinate closely with the Texas ADER Task Force to support its ongoing pilot project. The Texas ADER Task Force is comprised of utilities, utility commissions, independent system operators, aggregator providers, retail electricity providers and more.

Feng Pan, principal investigator at PNNL, said they are excited to be part of this unique collaboration between leading academic institutions, national laboratories, industry and government agencies aimed at advancing ADER.

“PNNL brings its state-of-the-art electricity market simulation framework, including the HIPPO simulation framework, coupled with extensive experience in optimization modeling and high performance computing. These resources will be critical in supporting the ADER research initiative and the ongoing ADER pilot project in Texas.”

“The project objectives are highly consistent with our task force,” added Jason Ryan, executive vice president of regulatory services and government affairs at CenterPoint Energy and chair of the ADER task force. “We look forward to the success of this project in collaboration with the Emerge ADER team and the Department of Energy Grid Deployment Office as it is important to the future deployment of ADERs in Texas.”