What GETs deployment is missing

You’d be forgiven for assuming that we are in the midst of a boom for grid-enhancing technologies — the suite of hardware and software solutions designed to enhance the existing grid as we wait to build out miles of much-needed new transmission lines, also known as GETs.

In April, the Department of Energy released a “liftoff” report detailing a near-term deployment timeline for GETs. In May, the White House launched a grid modernization effort encouraging use of the technologies. In June, the Federal Regulatory Commission announced an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking to implement dynamic line ratings. And just yesterday the DLR startup Heimdall Power raised $25 million.

But the reality is that actually getting GETs onto lines at scale has been easier said than done. This is in large part because utility timelines for new tech tend to be long, and because many of the technologies don’t have standard specifications and ratings. 

• The top line: Last week, the Electric Power Research Institute announced an initiative to identify concerns and help de-risk GETs for utilities in order to scale their deployment. The program focuses on four technologies — advanced conductors, dynamic line rating, advanced power flow controllers, and topology optimization — and on sharing information and enabling adoption.
• The current take: Of the four technologies EPRI is focused on, advanced conductors are the closest to scaled deployment, the organization’s VP of transmission and distribution Andrew Phillips said. “Advanced conductors are ready to adopt as long as you’re very careful with the installation processes,” he told Latitude Media. “What we have is a technology that can be done with minimal risk — we’ve de-risked it.”. 

The ultimate goal of EPRI’s GET SET initiative (that moniker stands for “grid-enhancing technologies for a smart energy transition”) is to accelerate utility adoption by lowering the risk and providing any tools needed to smooth the way, Phillips added. Each of the technologies has different problems and different approaches needed for adoption, and to date efforts have been somewhat scattered.

The first phase of the initiative, which Phillips calls the “sprint phase,” was primarily focused on information gathering — pulling together two decades of research and information on the tech and deployments, to create awareness of what’s already been done and what remains to be solved. The second and current phase, meanwhile, is designed to identify remaining knowledge gaps, and then figure out how to fill them.

Filling in the gaps

EPRI’s deep dive into the four chosen technologies revealed varying degrees of implementation, and of remaining challenges.

For example, when it comes to advanced conductors — which can take higher temperature ratings for transmission lines — utilities are primarily worried about reliability, life expectancy, and installation and inspection practices, Phillips said. And there aren’t any industry specifications available at the moment for the tech.

To fill those gaps, EPRI has developed a specification that utilities can use to procure conductors, which includes tests that must be conducted to make sure they have a long life and are reliable. 

They are also in the midst of conducting “aging tests” on conductoring tech from five different manufacturers that simulate 40 years in the field in just two years.

Finally, EPRI has been tracking advanced conductor failures in order to help develop industry handling guidelines. As it turns out, Phillips said, most failures can be attributed to installation problems.

Meanwhile, dynamic line rating — which can include either a digital or physical solution, or both — comes with its own challenges and utility concerns: “Every vendor has a different technology, and they all have black box solutions,” Phillips said. 

For example, there isn’t a standard methodology to quantify a solution’s level of accuracy, nor are there specifications for testing a solution’s reaction to weather and temperature changes. That makes it extremely difficult for grid planners to implement the tech into their operations, he added.

There are currently six separate efforts underway to quantify that uncertainty, using research-grade equipment to measure the accuracy of DLR currently on utility lines around the country, Phillips said. The second major effort to fill DLR gaps is a 1,000-foot “test line” EPRI purchased in Massachusetts. Notably, this isn’t considered a pilot.

“During pilots, you learn too slow,” Phillips said. 

Instead, EPRI is encouraging DLR providers to bring their tech into the field to help create standards around uncertainty, reliability, and installation in a setting where takeaways are clearer than they often are in the field.

But despite that accelerated pace, some major challenges remain, Phillips acknowledged. EPRI is still working on developing specifications for DLR; for example, it is zeroing in on what tests have to be completed on the tech to provide utilities with confidence, like humidity and rain tests, temperature tests, and line vibration tests. 

And there’s also the planning challenge. Whereas advanced conductors can be installed without a lot of special planning or changes in the control room, something like DLR changes total capacity across a system, rather than just a single line. In Phillips’ experience, this complicates deployment.

For the most part, he added, these technologies aren’t new — EPRI has been working on deployment of advanced conductors since 2006, and DLR dates back to the late 90s. But the landscape for deployment has changed greatly in recent years.

“Demands on the power system are now increasing at an exponential rate, whether because of electrification or because of data centers or decarbonization, the transmission in our system has to increase in capacity,” Phillips said.

According to EPRI’s calculations, that capacity increase needs to meet nearly 40% by 2030.

“So we have to utilize our existing assets a lot better,” Phillips added. “The GETs initiative objective is to accelerate the adoption and enable utilities to adopt it — but adopt with confidence and low risk, and [with] all the tools they need.”