Grid Modernization of Cooperatives and Municipal 

Utilities via Breakthrough System Monitoring, 

Control and Optimization

Fei Ding, Ph.D.

Research Engineer, Power Systems Engineering Center

ADMS Workshop, September 26, 2018 

NREL/PR-5D00-72745
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State-of-the-Art

• Visualization of grid operations and 

impacts of distributed energy 

resources (DERs)

• Controllability of DERs to provide 

grid and customer benefits

• Business Model to demonstrate the 

value of DERs

• Pilot Demonstration

Challenges

Increasing 

penetration of 

DERs

Interoperability, 

security and 

resilience needs

Lack of 

observability 

and 

controllability 

for DERs

Limited 

investment for 

wired 

approaches

NEEDS:
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Project Overview

• Develop and validate new 

grid visualization, control 

paradigms, and business 

models for Holy Cross Energy 

(HCE) through integration of 

grid-friendly intelligent DER 

assets.

Project Impact:

• Enable cooperatives and municipally-owned utilities to fully leverage DERs as part of 

their strategies for providing safe, reliable, and affordable electric services

• Meets U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grid modernization goal of achieving at least 

10% active devices to provide grid flexibility by 2035.

Project Team:

• NREL

• DOE Office of Electricity

• Survalent

• Heila Technologies

• HCE

• U.S. Advanced Research Projects 

Agency-Energy (ARPA-e)

• National Rural Electric Cooperative 

Association

• University of Colorado Boulder
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Coordination with Other Projects

Scope for 

Enhanced 

Technology

New ESIF 

Capability 

Developed

ARPA-E NODES 

Project

Advanced Distribution 

Management System 

(ADMS) Testbed 

Project

Holy Cross Energy 

(HCE) High Impact 

Project

Model the impact of 

increasing DER on 

HCE grid

Develop the use case to implement 

advanced control for DERs in order to 

provide grid service

Techno-Economic 

Cost-Benefit 

Analysis 

Set up ADMS testbed, integrated 

Survalent’s ADMS and conduct HIL 

experiments

Field deployment 

at HCE

Enhanced ADMS test bed 

capability

New communication and 

interoperability capability 

energized from Multispeak

Advanced co-simulation 

platform with plug-and-play 

control implementation 
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HCE Feeder Selection

11 substations, 52 feeders

• Electrical Co-Op

• Est. 1939

• 60,000 meters

• 3,020 miles of 

distribution

• 120 miles of 

transmission

• Winter Peak 260 MW

The AX feeder was selected for its mix of commercial and residential 

loads. We also foresee a greater DER demand in this area.
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Modeling and Simulation Platform

*Streamlined Platform to Enable Distributed Energy Resource Grid Integration (SPEED-DER), 

NREL Software Record, SWR-18-48, 2018. 

Automatic 

Distribution 

System Model 

Conversion

Spatial-Temporal 

DER Modeling

Control, Optimization 

and Synergistic Tech 

Implementation

TechnoEconomic 

Assessment

Time-Series 

PV and Load 

Model

• Voltage and power 

quality metrics 

calculation

• Economic cost and 

cash flow

High-performance Computing (HPC)
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DER Modeling and Impact Visualization

Distributed PV Electric Vehicle

Home Battery 

Energy Storage

HVAC Load Electric Water 

Heater Load
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HCE Feeder Modeling and Validation

line regulator

Red dots are 38 

PV units

Feeder Topology

Substation LTC

Voltage Profile
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High PV Penetration on Distribution Feeder

Add more PVs --> 2.3 MW (50% of peak load)

. Existing PV

. 50% PV penetration
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Use DER to Increase Grid Flexibility and Improve Voltage Quality

Ctrl – 1 

Ctrl – 2 

Ctrl – 3 

Ctrl – 4 

Coordinator

SCADA

Voltage measurements

Compute control/”price” 

signals based on the voltage 

measurements

Solve the optimal 

power setpoints

Intelligent, distributed control for DERs
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Use DER to Achieve Conservation Voltage Reduction and Peak 

Demand Management

Ctrl – 1 

Ctrl – 2 

Ctrl – 3 

Ctrl – 4 

Coordinated control between DERs and voltage regulators to achieve conservation voltage 

reduction (CVR) energy savings and peak demand management. 

Coordinator

SCADA

VVC

ADMS

Fast time scale regulation: local control, fast correction
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Controllable DER Impact on Distribution Voltage
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Conduct Hardware in-the-loop Experiments for the 

Use Case

OpenDSS 

Model Reduced Feeder 

Model built in Opal-RT

Co-sim 

Manager

Grid 

Simulator

Power Hardware

PV 

Inverter

Battery 

Inverter

Water 

Heater

EV 

Charger

PHIL

ADMS

Coordinator

Local DER 

Controller

Distributed Control
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Field Deployment

Basalt Vista Affordable Housing Project

• 27 homes for teachers and local 

workforces.

• 4 selected for field deployment

• Designed to ZNE building with all 

electric construction

• Adjacent to Basalt High School

Leveraging DERs and Grid Flexibility by 

controlling:

• Renewable source and storage

• Mobility charging (EVSE)

• Comfort (Hot water + HVAC)
www.nrel.gov

Thank you

This work was performed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, operated by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, for the 

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308. Funding provided by Holy Cross Energy, the DOE 

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, and the DOE Office of Electricity Advanced Grid Research program. The views 

expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of the DOE or the U.S. Government.