E-COMP Value Proposition
The rapid changes in our energy systems, driven by decarbonization and the adoption of new technologies and architectures, are leading to a fundamentally different system than the one that existed just 20 years ago. Currently, there are gaps in both the knowledge and tools required to guide decision-making, putting in jeopardy the ability to meet multiple objectives that include but go beyond safe, reliable, and cost-effective energy as the system evolves. According to the National Academies of Sciences (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2021), investments are strongly needed in analytic tools and capabilities that support grid modernization to enable deep decarbonization. A significant aspect of the ongoing power system transformation is the high penetration of power electronics (PEL), which will become ubiquitous within the next 10 to 15 years, with up to 80 percent of all electricity predicted to be running through PEL devices (Huang et al. 2020).
It is known that operating the grid under these conditions will present significant challenges, evidenced by the lack of understanding of current PEL instabilities (Leslie 2022). Current dispatch and market design approaches will be undermined by the shift toward technologies that have zero marginal fuel costs associated with their operation. Furthermore, pursuing an aggressive decarbonization objective cannot come at the expense of other objectives such as costs, equity, cybersecurity, efficiency, durability, reliability, and resilience. The problem is then how to solve a multi-objective optimization under domain-aware operational and design constraints. Intrinsic to this problem is the fact that objectives are often “black box”, i.e., they cannot directly be evaluated using analytical expressions due to high coupling and interdependencies between subsystem operations. Promising approaches such as co-design have been recognized as transformational with the potential to discover optimal solutions that would not be achievable otherwise (Garcia‐Sanz 2019).The co-design approach simultaneously addresses the optimization of a system’s design and its operation, resulting in better operational outcomes than would be possible when infrastructure design and operational decisions are segmented and considered separately.
[1] Energy system is defined here in accordance with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report as “all components related to the production, conversion, delivery, and use of energy.”