Energy experts from around the U.S., China and Europe are converging at NETL in Morgantown this week to share ideas and challenges related to innovations that will improve flexibility in hybrid power cycles as part of the Low Emission Advanced Power (LEAP 4) Workshop on Flexibility in Power Systems.

Compared to traditional, base-load power generation, the changing electric market has placed a new value on technologies that are both efficient and flexible over a wide load range. The goal of the workshop is to accelerate the development and commercialization of highly flexible, low-emission, high-efficiency hybrid power systems of the future by promoting dialog among the leading international researchers in hybrid system technology and controls development.

Critical research needs are being identified in sessions that seek to coordinate international efforts. In lieu of traditional presentations, attendees are sharing technical expertise through an interactive format. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will publish a final assessment of general opportunities and technical issues related to highly integrated hybrid power systems, authored by the attendees.

After early sessions Monday and Tuesday, participants heard programmatic leaders from around the globe discuss technical challenges and issues for innovative technology development that targets the needs of future advanced power systems.

Angelos Kokkinos, Ph.D., DOE’s director of the Division of Advanced Energy Systems, will present the keynote remarks followed by addresses by Massardo Aristide, Ph.D., chair of the PE08 European Research Council Panel for the Horizon 2020 Program and dean of the Polytechnic School of Engineering and Architecture, and Mingang Han, Ph.D. program leader of the National Program on Key Basic Research Projects and professor at Tsinghua University.

Participants are pursuing an aggressive schedule of discussions on the needs for future advanced power systems that include:

• Bridging technology from the existing fleet to advanced power systems
• Incorporating flexibility into future system designs that include load following
• Maintaining high efficiency at part load conditions
• Realizing resiliency through integrated energy storage and low-cost spinning reserve
• Implementing dynamic controls to effectively transition from one state to another

Specific discussions are focusing on:

• Hybrid systems
• Advanced controls
• Distributed power generation
• Microgrids
• Cyber-physical systems
• Multivariable optimization