Lead Performer: Oak Ridge National Laboratory – Oak Ridge, TN
September 14, 2017
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Lead Performer: Oak Ridge National Laboratory – Oak Ridge, TN
Partners:
-- Sandia National Laboratory
-- United Parcel Service (UPS) – Louisville, KY
-- Waste Management – Houston, TX
-- Burns & McDonnell – Kansas City, MO
-- Harshaw Trane – Louisville, KY
-- Louisville Gas & Electric – Louisville, KY
-- State of Kentucky – Frankfurt, KY
DOE Total Funding: $1,000,000 (funding is a joint EERE/OE initiative; BTO funds contribute to total)
Project Term: January 2016 - September 2017
Funding Type: DOE Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium (GMLC) Lab Call
Project Objective
As a part of the Department of Energy’s Grid Modernization Initiative, the Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium projects represents a comprehensive portfolio of critical research and development in advanced storage systems, clean energy integration, standards and test procedures, and a number of other key grid modernization areas.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), in partnership with Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and Fortune 10 company UPS, are assessing microgrid capabilities at the crown jewel of UPS' company, their WorldPort in Louisville, Kentucky -- the most technically advanced facility of its kind in the world. UPS is very interested in the development of an industrial microgrid to serve their 50MW peak WorldPort facility to increase reliability and strengthen the surrounding grid through advanced microgrid control schemes. ORNL, SNL, and UPS will investigate the risks, costs, and benefits of a microgrid at the UPS WorldPort and Centennial Hub facilities in Louisville. Louisville Gas & Electric has agreed to provide any and all information requested by UPS during the course of the analysis. This project will keep LG&E tied into the analysis throughout the entire process so that the utility is aware of just how industry customers want to use microgrids, and how microgrids will affect the larger electric grid.
This project will also provide a roadmap for other industries interested in microgrid technologies by spelling out the institutional and regulatory challenges associated with development of an industrial microgrid. It will also highlight the interaction between an industrial customer interested in pursuing a microgrid and a utility that is hesitant to commit to adopting such a technology, a scenario industries across the country are highly likely to face. Final technical documents will be produced to assist UPS and other industrial companies in overcoming institutional barriers and assessing their capability to implement a microgrid at their facilities.
Project Impact
This project will demonstrate that reliability improvements for industrial customers can also benefit utilities and provide a methodology applicable to other areas of the country.
Contacts
DOE Technology Manager: Joe Hagerman
Lead Performer: Patrick Hughes, Oak Ridge National Laboratory