GCR: The Transition to a Sustainable Energy Future

将能源系统从依赖传统化石能源过渡到主要由可再生能源提供的可持续能源系统是社会最迫切的需求之一。将越来越多的可再生能源整合到电力系统中是一项技术挑战，因为许多可再生能源不能安排与电力需求一致，而是在阳光明媚或刮风的时候发电。随着能源转型的推进，另一个挑战是确保所有社区都能参与其中。该项目在这些技术和社会挑战的交叉点进行融合研究，为未来的电力系统设计和评估政策、市场和算法。为此，该项目将建立一个由工程师、计算机科学家、社会科学家和政策学者组成的团队，以及代表城市居民、他们的电力公司和独立系统运营商的关键利益相关者。通过将大量可再生能源整合到电网中，该项目将产生加速能源转型的新知识。该项目的愿景是学习如何设计能源技术、电网算法、市场解决方案和政策机制，使其兼顾能源系统复杂和不断变化的科学现实和社会经济目标。该项目旨在(1)了解社区围绕能源系统转型的优先事项；(2)制定量化系统成本和获取的指标，用于评估技术、算法、市场和政策创新；(3)评估分布式太阳能光伏和大规模海上风能背景下的综合市场机制、电网算法、发电、存储和所有权结构。完成项目目标需要来自不同领域的科学家和工程师的深度整合。根据社区成员和行业利益相关者的意见，项目团队将开发一种通用语言，以便在不同学科之间进行交流，从而开发相关模型，从实时控制算法到小时电力市场机制，再到对经济和其他社会影响的长期实证评估。该项目将通过电力市场模拟在团队和社区成员之间建立融合。该项目的成果将促进可再生能源进一步融入电力系统。研究活动和利益相关者的参与也将从代表性不足的群体中招募和指导学生，并与服务不足的社区发展关系。电力市场模拟器将作为社区组织和地方政府寻求市民参与和讨论能源政策的资源提供。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Transitioning the energy system from one dependent on conventional fossil energy to a sustainable energy system primarily supplied by renewable energy is one of society’s most pressing needs. Integrating increasing amounts of renewable energy into the electricity system is a technical challenge, as many renewable energy sources cannot be scheduled to coincide with the demand for electricity, but instead produce electricity when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing. Another challenge as the energy transition progresses is to ensure that all communities are able to participate. This project pursues convergence research at the intersection of these technical and societal challenges, designing and evaluating policies, markets, and algorithms for a future electricity system. To do this, the project will build a convergent team of engineers, computer scientists, social scientists, and policy scholars along with key stakeholders representing urban dwellers, their electric utility, and the independent system operator. The project will produce new knowledge that accelerates the energy transition, by enabling the integration of large amounts of renewables into the electric grid. The vision for this project is to learn the ways in which energy technologies, grid algorithms, market solutions and policy mechanisms can be designed so they account for both the complex and changing scientific realities of the energy system and socio-economic goals. The project seeks to (1) understand community priorities around transitioning the energy system; (2) develop metrics for quantifying system costs and access that will be used to assess technological, algorithmic, market and policy innovations; and (3) evaluate integrated market mechanisms, grid algorithms, generation, storage, and ownership structures in the context of distributed solar PV and large-scale offshore wind energy. Accomplishing project goals requires deep integration of scientists and engineers from different fields. With input from community members and industry stakeholders, the project team will develop a common language to communicate across the varied disciplines, leading to the development of linked models that range from moment-to-moment control algorithms, to hourly electricity market mechanisms, to long-term empirical evaluation of economic and other societal impacts. The project will build convergence among the team and community members through an electricity market simulation. The results of the project will facilitate increased integration of renewable sources into the electricity system. The research activities and stakeholder engagement will also recruit and mentor students from under-represented groups and developing relationships with underserved communities. The electricity market simulator will be offered as a resource for community organizations and local governments seeking civic engagement and discussion of energy policies.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.