Webinars
Conducting a High-Quality Grid Integration Study: An Overview of Lessons Learned and the New Practitioner's Guidebook Webinar
This webinar evaluates approaches for designing an effective grid integration study, including best practices for working with stakeholders, developing scenarios, and choosing appropriate models. It also includes a review of the methodology behind a real-world grid integration case study from India and highlights key topics from a new guidebook produced through the USAID-NREL Partnership’s Greening the Grid platform that synthesizes a decade of lessons learned for conducting high-quality grid integration studies. This webinar was moderated by Sarah Lawson of USAID, with panelists Ilya Chernyakhovskiy, Jaquelin Cochran, and Mohit Joshi, of NREL.
Best Practices for Grid Codes for Renewable Energy Generators
This webinar introduces the essential concepts for understanding renewable energy grid codes and reviews how grid codes have developed in the United States and internationally.
Transmission Planning for a High Renewable Energy Future: Lessons from the Texas Competitive Renewable Energy Zones Process
The webinar provided an overview of the Texas Competitive Renewable Energy Zones (CREZ) process, including the regulatory, procedural and technical considerations that were critical to its successful implementation in Texas. The webinar also introduced a Renewable Energy Zones “Toolkit” developed through a USAID and NREL partnership and intended to guide other power systems in adapting elements of the CREZ approach to their own power system planning processes.
Power Purchase Agreements for Grid-Aware Renewable Energy Procurement
Power purchase agreements (PPAs) are a key mechanism that utilities use to procure variable renewable energy from independent power producers. his webinar focuses on PPA provisions that can enable wind and solar technologies to enhance grid stability and contribute to power system flexibility. Discussed are key considerations, including ancillary services, advanced telemetry, and automatic generation control. The discussion is followed with a presentation by Xcel Energy, a vertically integrated electricity utility in the United States and the largest wind buyer in the country, to discuss Xcel Energy’s Model PPA for wind power systems.
Distributed Solar on the Grid: Key Opportunities and Challenges
Distributed, grid-connected photovoltaic (DGPV) systems pose a unique set of opportunities and challenges. Key technical and economic challenges related to DGPV integration are shaping how we plan, operate, regulate and even conceptualize the power system.
Big, Fast, and Flexible: Grid Operations for Efficient Variable Renewable Integration
A growing body of research and operational experience highlights the value of large balancing areas and fast system operations to cost-effectively integrating high penetrations of wind and solar on the grid. This webinar provides an overview of the "big and fast" concept for efficient integration of variable renewables to the grid. Following a brief introduction to the basics of power system operations and power system flexibility, the webinar presents various methods and examples of pathways for moving towards larger balancing areas and faster dispatch under different institutional contexts.
Facilitating the Integration of Renewable Energy through Balancing Area Cooperation
This five-minute animated video illustrates how cooperation between power systems can facilitate the integration of variable renewable energy (VRE) to the grid.
An Introduction to Wind and Solar Power Forecasting
This webinar introduces the considerations associated with advancing the use of wind and solar forecasts to more efficiently integrate variable renewable energy into the grid. Discussion topics included how wind and solar forecasting enhance power system operations; how wind and solar forecasts are produced; approaches to structuring forecasting programs and the collection of necessary data; and policy and other actions to support forecasting.
Implementing Renewable Energy Zones for Integrated Transmission and Generation Planning
In many countries, integrating significant renewable energy to the grid requires new transmission to access the best wind and solar resources and accommodate generation from large projects. The renewable energy zone (REZ) approach provides a policy framework for planning new transmission to encourage utility-scale renewable energy development in areas that have the highest likelihood of being cost-effective. This webinar introduced the REZ approach, including the value of REZ to a power system, crucial components of the REZ process, technical approach to defining REZs using geospatial analysis, and case studies to highlight examples and key lessons for implementing REZ in other parts of the world.
Greening the Grid: Best Practices in Conducting Grid Integration Studies
This webinar was presented as part launch of GreeningTheGrid.org, which is designed to support countries in integrating renewable energy into the power system. It addresses fundamental questions, about conducting grid integration studies, best practices for engaging key stakeholders in them and the kinds of analysis and data that are involved in them. It includes several case studies to highlight lessons learned.
Integrating Variable Renewable Energy into the Grid: Key Issues and Emerging Solutions
This webinar reviews the challenges to integrating significant quantities of variable renewable energy to the grid as well as the emerging solutions that policymakers, regulators and grid operators have taken to integrate wind and solar and meet renewable energy targets. Webinar participants learn about the myths, misperceptions, costs and options for scaling up grid-connected renewable energy, as well as the Greening the Grid website and technical assistance opportunities.
Presentation: Integrating Variable Renewable Energy into the Grid - Key Issues and Emerging Solutions
Presentation associated with the July 29, 2015 webinar of the same name
Transcript - Integrating Variable Renewable Energy to the Grid: Key Issues and Emerging Solutions
Transcript associated with the July 29, 2105 webinar of the same name.