ETA 2021 Strategic Plan - Flipbook - Page 75
emerging technologies on those platforms. It
also will require new mathematical models that
can keep pace with rapidly evolving technologies
and their integration pathways, to address the
vulnerabilities between cyber-physical systems.
The IES initiative represents a newly focused
effort to achieve the breakthroughs needed
to meet the goals realizable only through the
real-time cooperation of integrated energy
systems that build upon the long-standing
core competencies of ETA’s domain expertise
— transportation, buildings, and the grid —
and their interactions with renewable energy
sources and energy storage and conversion
technologies. To this end, the initiative initially
targets three focus areas: (1) Breakthroughs in
Practical Platforms for Co-Simulation Software,
to enable these disparate systems to function
as an ensemble in real time; (2) a Testbed for
the Study of CoSimulation Controls and Testing
Component Technologies, which will function at
a scale suitable for scientific study of co-controls
and for the testing of component technologies/
hardware; and (3) Cybersecurity, to expand on
the role of security in IES cyber-physical systems
for detection of threats and system instabilities,
as well as computational methods that mitigate
them.
Under each topic, our initial efforts will use
a traditional scientific method to review the
integrated energy systems research domain, to
hypothesize potential roadblocks to realizing a
future energy system that is 100% renewably
powered and financially preferable to extant
systems. Hypotheses will cover the importance
of applications, the validity of methods, and
prioritization of the scientific breakthroughs
needed. To develop technologies that can lead
to commercial products, we will design thought
experiments to confirm these hypotheses and
meet with leading researchers to gather data
(information and opinion).
Focus Areas
Breakthroughs in Practical Platforms for
Co-Simulation Software
As infrastructure co-simulation moves toward
increased complexity, a paradigm shift is needed
to create a simulation platform that enables
seamless integration of technologies and
systems across sectors. Policymakers, industry,
and scientists have identified a growing need
for better computational models for design and
operation that allow for one to consider a wide
variety of planning/feasibility opportunities and
threats in order to enable future operational
uses. Examples include: comparative analyses
of energy technologies (such as seasonal energy
storage) at national, sectoral, and technological
levels; development of energy use scenarios at
sub-hourly scales; unforeseen consequences
of one energy system imposing (nonlinear)
disruptions on another; common-cause threats
due to wide-ranging extreme weather; and
real-time, grid-aware building energy control
that minimizes cost and carbon emissions from
multiple energy sources and carriers. However,
a critical challenge with systems is how to
construct models at a suitable spatiotemporal
scale for their intended application that can be
still be performance tested (i.e., validated). On
this front, we aim to develop a roadmap and
solutions for how physics-based models can
supplement artificial intelligence (AI) models
to overcome the typical hurdles of using each
type — for example, by developing a reduced
order model to represent formal abstractions of
energy sectors suitable for applications.
Many questions remain unanswered: Is there
a new design paradigm for IES, given the
constraints of existing energy, building, and
transportation infrastructure? What would
be the underlying design principles? What
abstractions of real systems are needed? What
simulation and optimization tools are needed?
Which uncertainties or variability need to be
E TA S t r a t e g i c P l a n 2 0 2 1 - 2 0 3 0
|
73
