RAPID: Transportable Energy Storage for Enhancing Power Grid Resiliency to Natural Disasters

该项目的动机是社会规模的紧迫性，减少自然灾害对电网的影响，在美国大西洋和墨西哥湾沿岸地区的飓风袭击的频率和破坏增加。提高电网运营商抵御此类灾难的能力的一种方法是确保在灾难发生之前能够及时部署的备份灵活性资源的可用性。这种灵活性可用于防止灾难期间的关键设备故障，并加速灾后电网恢复。本项目将开发和验证移动的储能（ES）单元的概念，该单元可为电网提供备用灵活性。在及时发生灾难的情况下，这些单元可以使用公共交通路线从其固定位置移动到可以增强电网弹性的位置。这一目标需要解决两个紧迫的研究差距。首先，没有决策策略，可以最佳路由，重新配置和控制移动的ES单元需要减少预期的灾难的影响。其次，现有的ES技术使得很难在短时间内重新配置ES单元。 利用现实生活中的预测和哈维飓风的事后数据，该项目将设计一种数据驱动的方法，以实现移动的ES单元的最佳路由、重新配置和控制，从而增强电网的弹性。 所提出的方法将伴随着一种新的电化学ES机制的发展，该机制能够产生两种可运输的能量载体：氧化还原活性物质（如氧化还原液流电池上使用的物质）和氢（例如，可在沿着美国墨西哥湾沿岸的炼油厂中获得）。从方法论上讲，该项目将推进解决多阶段优化问题的技术，包括基于电化学水分解反应的二元资源决策和网格规模储能机制，该项目将增强工具集和知识，以减轻自然灾害的影响，并将及时提供给电网公用事业公司，大西洋飓风季（2018年）PI旨在让代表性不足的群体参与STEM研究活动。

This project is motivated by the society-scale urgency of reducing the impact of natural disasters on power grids in the light of increasing frequency and damage of hurricane strikes in the US Atlantic and Gulf Coast region. One way to enhance the ability of power grid operators to withstand such disasters is to ensure availability of backup flexibility resources that can be timely deployed prior to the disaster. This flexibility can then be used to prevent critical equipment failures during the disaster and to accelerate post-disaster grid restoration.This project will develop and validate the concept of mobile energy storage (ES) units that can provide backup flexibility to power grids. Provided a timely disaster scenario, these units can be moved using public transportation routes from their stationary locations to the locations, where they can enhance power grid resiliency. This objective requires addressing two immediate research gaps. First, there is no decision-making strategy that can optimally route, reconfigure and control mobile ES units as needed to reduce the impact of the anticipated disaster. Second, existing ES technologies makes it difficult to reconfigure ES units on a short notice. Using the real-life predictions and ex-post data from Hurricane Harvey, this project will design a data-driven approach to enable the optimal routing, reconfigure and control of mobile ES units to enhance power grid resiliency. The proposed approach will be accompanied by the development of a new electrochemical ES mechanism that is capable of generating two transportable energy carriers: redox-active species (such as those used on redox flow batteries) and hydrogen (e.g. available in refineries along the US Gulf Coast). Methodologically, this project will advance techniques for solving multi-stage optimization problems with binary recourse decisions and grid-scale energy storage mechanisms based on electrochemical water splitting reactions with solution-based redox couples as intermediates for water electrolysis.The project will enhance the tool set and knowledge to mitigate the impact of natural disasters and will be made available to educate power grid utilities just in time for the following Atlantic Hurricane Season (2018). The PIs will aim to engage underrepresented groups in STEM research activities.