Here’s a Look Back at the 2021 Conference Program

Diversity & Inclusion - Lets get real...

Welcome and Opening Remarks

Transitioning from Operations to Technology

Project and Safety Efficiencies utilizing Unmanned Aircraft Systems for Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution

• Bryan Gehrling, Senior Project Manager, Middough Inc.

The implementation of advanced technology with the use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) allows an equipment asset owner to minimize the hazards of inspection for personnel while increasing the efficiency. UAS obtain a large amount of data acquisition in a reduced amount of time while creating a fully reviewable experience of the data set. UAS can be utilized for a multitude of power generation and distribution logistics including but not limited to distribution towers and poles, infrared scanning, stockpile volumetrics, LiDAR scanning, storm assessments considering topographical contours, and project planning. A large safety advantage of using UAS is the ability to remove human personnel from being adjacent to dangerous aspects of these inspections including confined space inspections.
The topography, volumetric, and LiDAR capabilities allow a drone to gather the geo-coordinates of an area quickly and efficiently for input into modeling software. These abilities of a UAS allow an owner to abide by EPA and other regulatory with the data available for project planning when needed.
UAS has the unique ability to be utilized both indoors and outdoors with the same level of detail while utilizing onboard lighting where applicable for up close inspections which creates a flexibility that traditional inspections are unable to match. Traditional inspections typically require some level of access equipment using scaffolding, manlifts, cranes, etc. while a UAS achieve the same or superior results without incurring the cost or added time of access equipment.
Apart from removing human personnel from a potentially dangerous environment, UAS can drastically reduce time required for inspection. A UAS can capture the same data over a large distance in a fraction of the time while having the ability to assess the data in between flights where needed.

Cost of Resiliency and Meeting Reliability Goals

Utilizing Alternative Fuels to Meet the Needs of the Future

Cutting Edge Storage Options

Evaluating the Reliability Benefits of Battery Storage on Distribution systems

A variety of financial benefits are commonly attributed to battery energy storage system ('BESS') deployments. These benefits include peak demand reduction and a variety of transmission considerations involving rapid 'spinning reserves', congestion costs, voltage stability, frequency regulation, and reactive power support. Tangible financial benefits may depend on available BESS size, capacity, and location on transmission networks and BESS deployments may only be economically justified at certain locations.
Similar to transmission, there are benefits associated with BESS deployments on distribution systems. Many utilities have or are planning to deploy fault location, isolation, and service restoration ('FLISR') technology to improve distribution reliability as part of their grid modernization program. FLISR improves reliability by detecting faults and automatically switching and reconfiguring interconnected feeders to restore service to un-faulted sections and minimize outages to the fewest number of customers practical. After repairs are completed the affected feeders can be switched back to their normal operating configuration. However, FLISR is dependent on the available back feed capacity of feeders, substation transformers, line equipment, and other factors. BESS deployments are emerging as another option to improve distribution reliability and resilience especially in circumstances where capacity is limited, and conventional upgrades are costly or require years to complete.
This presentation will explore how the methodology developed by Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory to monetize the benefits of improved distribution reliability may be leveraged to evaluate BESS deployments. Also, this presentation will illustrate how a business case is used to justify BESS deployments and evaluate if the monetized benefits of improved reliability achievable with a BESS deployment exceeds anticipated BESS life cycle costs based on data from a confidential utility client. Finally, this presentation will illustrate how the business case can be expanded to include alternative capacity investments and benefits previously described in this abstract.

Grid Integration needs for Renewable and Energy Storage

Phasing out staffing

End of the Life for a Power Plant - Cost Estimating and Evaluation

With the ever-increasing closure of power plants, the final disposition has not always been determined. Ultimate decisions involve a thorough understanding of the cost of various options. Development of a planning level cost estimate is important to decide what approach to take with a facility: retirement-in place or full demolition.
Conducting a planning level estimate involves more than just having a demolition contractor provide a cost estimate. A thorough estimate involves the development of a detailed scope of proposed activities, the conduct of a regulated materials assessment of the facility to understand the level of effort to abate the plant before demolition, and to obtain input from internal stakeholders on the scope of the proposed approaches.
Several example projects where the cost estimate evaluation was used to determine the ultimate approach to decommissioning and one that resulted in a change in approach once the cost evaluation was complete.
This presentation will outline the process that should be undertaken to develop a cost study to assist with the decision-making process.

Outage Maintenance Planning

Building and Best Use for Digital/Virtual Twin

Next Generation Outreach

Cold Hard Facts: Texas Lessons for a National Strategy on Electric Emergencies

The Winter 2021 Freeze event touched Texans like no disaster in history, setting abundant records for its 254-county extent, severity of cold, freeze duration, and ice-snowfall accumulations. Texas simply was not prepared for this winter storm - worse than any other in more than 140 years of measured records - suffering record damage estimated from $130 Billion up to $296 Billion. Electricity is essential to Modern Life, yet no national strategy exists to protect against disruptions. Advanced technology can reliably move America beyond the "Generate on Demand" model used today. Texas' winter event highlights what is needed for electricity in general and clean energy in particular: vastly improved delivery and storage. On many windy nights in Texas, transmission shortages curtail wind production that is sufficient to power one to two million Texas homes. This reality has contributed to $40 billion of potential wind, solar and storage projects in 90 counties across Texas to have canceled or gone inactive in the ERCOT interconnection queue since January 2019. The AGE OF OIL had three major national security driven infrastructure deployments: FDR's expedited oil pipelines 1,250+ miles long built in 14 months (The Big Inch), Eisenhower's transportation infrastructure network (Interstate & Defense Highways) and an emergency oil storage program (Strategic Petroleum Reserve). In the AGE OF ELECTRICITY, facing the growing climate crisis and frequent costly power outages, similarly bold programs could spur decarbonization and electric resilience by providing redundant layers of protection: (1) Strategic Hydrogen Reserve as federal centerpiece promoting long-term energy storage, (2) National HVDC SuperGrid overlay on existing AC network that connects clean generation and energy storage zones nationwide, providing a rapid response capability across multiple states, (3) Critical Infrastructure ability to "isolate" from grid (via batteries, DG, microgrids), (4) an Emergency Communication Plan & needed infrastructure to deploy it.

Renewables and Batteries-Too Green, or On-the-Road to Green?

In a span of little more than two and a half decades, the US power industry has explosively 'greened-up'. Witnessed over the front-end of this period were massive air quality control retrofits of base loaded coal-fired units with their nominal 60-day, on-site fuel supply, followed by the shuttering of such units as they became supplanted by another fossil fuel - inexpensive, greener natural gas combusted in combined cycle units. Over the latter part of this period and driven by government incentives and subsidies, the use of wind and solar renewables sky-rocketed and continues to this day. While intermittent in their generation capability, their itinerant non-combustion fuel-base has made green natural gas the new black. Given the even greener nature of renewable power and its position on the grid dispatch stack, its use has forced substantial reliable, base load generation to the sidelines with the unintended consequence of crippling reliability. To address reliability concerns, technology currently offers a simple solution to this greenest-yet means of power generation - batteries. Batteries that charge with surplus power and discharge during limited peak or other sudden demand periods.

The recent CAISO rolling blackouts, the Northeast grid's polar vortex, and ERCOT's winter storm shutdowns are reminders that energy reliability and safety share common ground. As with safety, is it ever possible to be 'too' ...safe, or in the case of power generation, ...green? Is the road to green, too green if it compromises reliability and personal safety? Is 'green' a journey rather than a destination? This paper will explore these soft questions and offer hard, technology-based possible answers and solutions.

Beneficial Electrification: What Do Consumers Want?

• Nathan Shannon, President and CEO, Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative

As electric utilities and policymakers look for ways to address climate change and decarbonize the economy, widespread electrification is likely on the horizon. This session will provide attendees with takeaways on residential consumer interest in electrification, the factors that would motivate them to participate in electrification programs, the reasons why it's happening and the benefits it can provide to consumers. It will also cover best practices for communicating the urgency of climate change action to consumers and some examples of electrification programs in the field today.

I did everything right

On October 22, 2012 my husband left for work like he did everyday he had picked up an overtime shift I kissed him goodbye like I did every morning at 9:20 am I received a call that there had been an accident the coal fired bunker room had exploded with Joe in it. We tell our story of what happened, why and what life is like today. We discuss PTSD, anxiety, the ripple effect on our family and the reason it is so important to work safely every day.

Lock Out Tag Out--VR Training: Risk Reduction for Loss of Life and Bodily Injury

• Barbara Greenstein, Senior Instructional Designer, Epsilon Systems Solutions

Based on several real life OSHA cases, we will share how OSHA's #2 violation - lock out tag out (LOTO) - can inflict injury and cause loss of life by lack of employee adherence to proper protocol and procedure. Even if protocol is in place, employees often times do not follow it. Even when LOTO training is in place, employees often times do not follow it. With the use of Virtual Reality (VR) training for LOTO, the percentages for retention and implementation of proper protocol increases and thus reduces loss of life and human injury.

Getting the Most from Your Combustion Turbine Facilities: Flexible Design and Operation Options for the New Energy Marketplace

• David Crouse, Project Manager, Kiewit Engineering Group, Inc.

In the past decade, Combustion Turbine natural gas generation has played a greater role in the U.S. electricity generation marketplace, going from 20 percent in 2011 to 33 percent in 2020. In that same period, wind and solar have increased from a combined 3 percent of the generation to 11 percent while coal fired generation as dropped from 46 percent to 23 percent. This change to the generation mix means that gas fired generation must operate differently to meet current U.S. generation needs, which are more variable and may require rapid load swings.
This presentation will explore design issues and operational considerations needed to ensure that natural gas combustion turbine facilities are designed reliably and with the flexibility to meet the demands of this new energy market. This includes considerations for fast start operation, balance of plant equipment modifications, fatigue failure and maintenance concerns, emissions and permitting issues, control systems issues, training, and system wide solutions. The presentation will discuss tradeoffs, value assessments, and criteria recommendations for decisions making.

Improving Load Response and NOx Emissions with Boiler Tuning and Coal-Fired Unit Optimization

What can we learn from other industries

Flammable Hazards in BESS

• Gabriel Shelton, Senior Engineer, Baker Engineering & Risk Consultants Inc
• Sean Berg, Materials Engineer, Baker Engineering & Risk Consultants Inc

Lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries have become wildly popular for a variety of applications since they became commercially available. Li-ion batteries are convenient because they are rechargeable and have a relatively high energy storage capacity in relation to their volume and weight. However, that same energy can be self-destructive if an unrestrained discharge occurs (e.g., an internal short circuit). Some Li-ion battery cells also contain flammable electrolyte that becomes a hazard if a cell wall is breached. Distressed Li-ion batteries can lead to flammable hazards consequences that have been well characterized by the loss prevention community. Adopters of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) may not be necessarily familiar with the definition and handling of such hazards. Catastrophic failure of lithium-ion batteries is discussed this paper in terms of damaging effects such as blast, drag, and thermal loads. Actual incidents are discussed to illustrate the covered concepts.

Lithium Ion energy Storage Systems- Gas Release and Explosion Hazards

Presenting burn test and failure information on real world test of Lithium ion Battery energy storage systems. Reviewing off gassing to failure to include the fire and explosion hazard they may present. Understanding gas composition of cells in thermal run-away and propagation. Code requirements and recommendations to include options for detection, venting and deflagrations control. Where is the industry going and what are the best practice for fire and explosion mitigation and First responder safety with the increase use Energy Storage systems.

Fire Protection of Lithium Ion Battery Energy Storage Systems

This presentation will cover over 15 years of testing of various type of agents and application on effective extinguisshment of Lithium Ion Battery Energy Storage Systems.

Insurance Focus - What you need to know...

Disciplined Approach to Deploying Analytics Platforms in Power Plants

• James Nyenhuis, Manager of Performance Consulting for the Power Industry, Emerson
• Tom Logan, Product Line Manager, Intelligent Solutions, Mitsubishi Power Americas

Modern power plants that incorporate advanced technology gas turbines (GT) are extremely complex entities, consisting of multiple interacting systems to extract the most thermal efficiency from fuel. While these advanced technology GT's have very high reliability, plant availability often lags reliability due to trips and faults associated with balance-of-plant equipment. Advanced analytics and physics-based models coupled with operating plant data and maintenance records can be used to predict potential problems and provide plant operators with actionable insights to increase availability.
Over the past decade, there have been a number of companies that developed Advanced Pattern Recognition (APR) platforms. Some have been successful, but most of them have fallen short of plant operator expectations. These shortcomings are principally the result of the mistaken belief that actionable insights can be discerned by the application of software, using a piece wise approach or component by component assessment, without an understanding of the underlying physics of the system or upstream and downstream impact of each critical asset in the system. Software platforms need to be able to evaluate the potential fault mechanisms, physics, and engineering principles as a system to be effective.
OEM's need to work closely with software providers to develop meaningful analytics platforms and Digital Twins. This approach needs to be a well-defined, disciplined process, to deliver meaningful insights to power plant operators. First, critical systems and assets along with available data need to be identified. Second, it needs to be understood how the system functions and what the potential major faults are. Third, an extensive database of journal events needs to be studied to understand what is causing issues and the possible causes of those potential issues. Fourth, an appropriate fidelity model needs to be developed based upon underlying system physics to address those major issues. This can be a simple linear response model or a complex full process model; anticipated system response and failures are identified in this step. A decision engine assesses system response and provides actionable insights. Fifth, recommendations should be made regarding additional instrumentation to determine anomalies. Finally, all of this is visualized in a HMI or plant dashboard. This paper will explore how this can be applied to a few critical systems in a typical combined-cycle power plant.
Learning Objectives
1. Learn about high-level steps to achieve improved results from analytics platforms over traditional APR.
2. Learn about examples of how these steps can be implemented.

Operational Analytics and the Connection to Actionable Insights for Plant Operations

We hear much about artificial intelligence, machine learning, and various analytics technologies unlocking new insights in plant asset performance and health. What happens as these capabilities begin to extend to operational space? Through examples from current projects, this presentation will provide insight into how analytics are migrating into the operational side of the business and how looking at existing data from a different perspective can help provide guidance towards strategic operational goals.

How Hydrogen-Fueled Renewable Energy Microgrids Provide Zero-Emission, Resilient Power

Renewable hydrogen produced from post-consumer waste to fuel microgrids, onsite power generators and other applications solves two problems: the need for distributed renewable hydrogen supply and the need for sustainable waste disposal. Hydrogen-fueled microgrids and power generators can help utilities and local governments reach their climate and renewable energy goals, reduce the cost of resiliency and waste disposal and provide backup power during grid outages due to extreme weather events such as wildfires, heat waves and powerful storms.

Ways2H is a leading renewable hydrogen solutions provider developing commercial facilities around the world that convert municipal solid waste, sewage sludge, plastics and other refuse into hydrogen fuel for power generation and other applications. In this presentation, Jean-Louis will provide an overview of a hydrogen complex in the Caribbean that when complete, will convert 24 tons a day of post-consumer waste, 1000 kg of hydrogen per day to power a 1.5 megawatt generator, and provide additional hydrogen fuel for mobility. This project creates new opportunities for the island community to generate their own clean power and sustainably dispose of the waste, including municipal solid waste and sewage sludge.

A second case study in Tokyo involves a smaller onsite facility that processes 1 ton of waste per day to produce 40-50 kg of hydrogen, enough to fill 10 fuel-cell passenger vehicles, or fuel-cell powered forklifts.

The next wave of microgrids will leverage hydrogen fuel cells to enable resiliency, renewables integration, and clean mobility.

With the U.S. generating nearly 268 million tons of municipal solid waste per year, and landfills accounting for 14 percent of methane emissions, using waste as a renewable resource to produce clean hydrogen provides a pathway to increased affordability and sustainability.

Utility Scale Cybersecurity For DER/Microgrid Deployments

Deploying an effective integrated cybersecurity solution across multiple Stakeholders in the Utility/Microgrid space is a multifaceted challenge. In-flight initiatives at the national level are expanding the historical spotlight on power quality issues surrounding the Utility points of connection for DER/Microgrids to address cybersecurity throughout the complete communication path performing control and monitoring of power functions at the point of connection.
This presentation will provide several examples of how national level in-flight cybersecurity initiatives relate to cybersecurity issues being deployed from a Utility perspective. The communication path focus will be from the Utility perspective and includes a downstream view of DER/Microgrid based facilities generating power and an upstream view through aggregator control mechanisms and Energy Markets.
The current manufacturer of DER/Microgrid focus on designing cybersecurity controls to the inverter itself will be contrasted with the Utility view that the complete multiple communication path needs a balanced deployment of cybersecurity controls to lower the risk of cybersecurity attacks. Graphics to be provided will depict these multiple communication connection points needing to be protected between market authorities, load management systems, and endpoint power generation DER/Microgrid Points of connections communicating with balancing authorities connected to utilities.
From a Utility perspective in the DER/Microgrid Interconnection process, ensure the identification of multi-Stakeholder processes through a RACI based approach in allocating cybersecurity responsibilities across multiple cross organizational contractual documents and post go-live operational processes.
A portion of the presentation will demonstrate that cybersecurity assessments need to be performed in parallel with the Interconnection process beginning with the Full Interconnect Study where cybersecurity solutions are identified in conjunction with relevant SCADA control function requirements. Initial contractual documents leading up to the decision to pursue a Full Interconnect Study will identify how cybersecurity responsibilities will be allocated across all Stakeholders from policy perspectives.

A Microgrid To Weather the Storm