b'INTEGRATED Energy SystemsTO BE EFFECTIVE and long-lasting, energy systems must work together to build a sustainable, carbon- Real-Time Data Systems lab increases capabilities INL-developed microgrid free energy future. This means nuclear, geothermal and other energy sources must be integrated in allby 500% to test electric grid technologies provides power to stages, from generation to storage and distribution. INLs work in this area includes many crosscuttingINLs Power & Energy Real-Time Laboratory (PERL) has increased its ability toCalifornians after powerinitiatives like advanced computer science visualization, chemical and molecular science, and systemsprovide a real-world test environment for grid technologies with the addition of cut due to wildfiresengineering and integration. INL has proven again and again that it has the capabilities and knowledgefour new NovaCor racks. As California coped with wildfire-base to handle these complicated puzzles.caused power outages and rolling The new NovaCor racks and other recent upgrades to the lab increase its simulationblackouts, a tiny Native American tribe capabilities by more than 500%. The NovaCor racks are similar to the two digitalin the northernmost part of the state High Performance Computing research real-time simulators that researchers in the lab have used to conduct hardware-in- demonstrated how microgrids might offer receives international recognitionthe-loop tests of physical grid hardware such as control systems, stationary batteries,a solution. In consultation with INL, the A team led by Yidong Xia of INL received the Best Research Poster award at thesupercapacitors, electric vehicles and other grid technologies. The new equipmentBlue Lake Rancheria tribe has built a International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storagewill allow larger, high fidelity grid simulations. network of solar panels, storage batteries, and Analysis, held in Denver, Colorado, in November 2019. Established in 1988,fuel cells and diesel generators on its the annual supercomputing conference continues to grow steadily in size andAs long as it has an impact on the grid, we can test it, said Anudeep Medam, a100 acres of trust lands in Humboldt impact each year. Approximately 5,000 people participate in the technical program,PERL research engineer. Its the next best thing to testing these devices in the County. The microgrid can operate with about 11,000 people attending overall, including researchers, scientists,real world. as part of a broader utility network or application developers, computing center staff and management, computing industrycompletely on its own. In October 2019, staff, agency program managers, journalists, and congressional staffers. Entitledwhen Pacific Gas & Electric cut power Nanoporous Flow Simulations on the Summit Supercomputer, Xias posterto more than 2 million people across outlined how numerical simulations can complement laboratory experiments byNorthern California, the tribe made hotel detailing how fluid flow behaviors in nanoporous materials are distinct from thoseguest rooms available to eight critically following the continuum physics. Other INL members of the team included Joshuaill patients from the countys Health and Kane and Hai Huang. Human Services Department.INL working with industry to demonstrate nuclear powerResearchers develop new Yidong Xia accepts the Best plant production of hydrogen electrode material to store Research Poster award INL is assisting three investor-owned utilities to demonstrate technology to makeexcess energyhydrogen from water on an industrial scale using heat from nuclear power plants.Hydrogen has long been recognized as an The Energy Departments INL-based Light Water Reactor Sustainability program isenergy storage medium, but the challenge helping Ohio-based FirstEnergy Solutions, Xcel Energy of Minneapolis and Arizonahas always been how to efficiently recover Public Service roll out projects over the next few years that will generate hydrogenexcess electricity when its needed. Idaho with no carbon emissions for a world where demand is increasing exponentially forNational Laboratory researchers have use in transportation, industry and energy storage. When we have surplus energyhelped answer that question by developing on the electrical grid, instead of ramping down a nuclear unit, we could shift thata new triple-conducting (TCO) electrode energy to hydrogen production. That would result in a higher capacity factor andmaterial called perovskite, which conducts would maximize the utilization of carbon-free power sources, said Tim OConnor,electrons, oxygen ions and protons. In chief nuclear officer for Xcel Energy. practical terms, the TCO electrode means the reaction happens faster and more efficiently, so the operating temperature Data racks in the Real-Time Data can be reduced without the need for Systems Laboratory additional hydrogen. 10 11'