The Next Generation Power Converter Development: Applications for Advanced T&D Grid Performance and Resource Integration
The Grid Technologies Collaborative (GTC) is an industry-university-government integrated research and development group that advances the state-of-the-art in transmission and distribution system level power electronics technologies. Participants in the collaborative include industry partners and researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory Regional University Alliance (NETL-RUA)1 and the University Energy Partnership (UEP).2 The GTC executes a comprehensive program of fundamental research; technology development, simulation and modeling, testing, and commercialization; and professional training for the advanced grid technologies sector.
The GTC engages in three primary activities:
- Developing new grid-scale power electronics devices for emerging AC and DC electrical infrastructure, supporting systems and algorithms, and demonstrating their economic value.
- Educating the next generation of power electronics engineers through advanced curriculum at member universities and training programs for existing professionals.
- Partnering with industry and the public sector to advance the technology and demonstrate benefits of advanced power electronics through collaborative research and development, seminars, and workshops.
Collaborative research efforts between the partnered universities include:
- Mitigating the need to build new transmission capacity
- Supporting liberalized electricity markets
- Integrating renewable generating resources
- Increasing power system stability, security, and reliability