Planning Grant: Engineering Research Center for Wind Integrated with Storage for Energy Resilience (WISER)

University Of Virginia Main Campus, Charlottesville VA

Investigators

Abstract

Wind energy represents the largest growing energy source nationally and globally in terms of total added capacity; with an expected 8 GW coming online nationally in 2019 alone according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). As the net penetration of wind energy increases, its random delivery of electricity makes it difficult to use as a demand-focused dispatchable resource within the electric power grid. The proposed solution of the NSF ERC entitled Wind Integrated with Storage for Energy Resilience (WISER) is to integrate energy storage into the wind farm infrastructure to facilitate the economic delivery of energy on demand. The opportunity to address this challenge is enabled by recent emergent technologies, including the growing number of larger wind turbines, advances in autonomous control of wind energy, and, most importantly, new breakthroughs in chemistry, materials, thermodynamics, and energy economic analysis. Developing and translating fundamental science in all these areas will allow more than 24 hours of average power to be stored in a single turbine. Achieving this will require highly integrated multidisciplinary academic research and education as well as strong engagement with a wide host of industry partners, all of which will be considered in the planning grant for a new NSF ERC entitled Wind Integrated with Storage for Energy Resilience (WISER). The ERC planning grant for high penetration of wind energy integrated with storage will seek to uncover the key fundamental technical, economic, and societal questions using cross-pollination of ideas and concepts across these different fields. These questions will set the stage for an ERC to develop a new generation of cost-effective wind storage by investigating compressed air energy storage, liquid metal batteries, and flow batteries directly integrated into extreme-scale turbines (10+ MW), wind farms, and the grid itself. Achieving this will require new knowledge and breakthroughs in: a) the efficiency, formatting, and durability of storage and wind technology at extreme-scales, b) strategies to integrate and leverage storage with wind energy generation and grid infrastructure, c) effective use of autonomous power control for the integrated system dynamics, and d) market-based revenue design and adaptivity to optimize these systems for grid resilience and power demand. The WISER planning grant will develop a globally- competitive diverse workforce through novel student internships, coursework, and pervasive engagement with the key industry alliances that will commercialize, manufacture, install and operate this technology. Through these profound impacts, the WISER ERC will provide a new generation of "renewable energy on demand" that will power increases in renewable energy penetration and enhance the resilience of the power grid. More broadly, this will directly enhance the USA's energy independence, environment, infrastructure, workforce, and global manufacturing leadership. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.