Nanogrids and Microgrids

NLR's facilities can emulate microgrids and nanogrids connected to marine energy and other renewable technologies and pair modeling tools and hardware (hardware-in-the-loop) to more accurately evaluate emerging technologies.

Photo by Werner Slocum, National Laboratory of the Rockies

The tools offer a safer, cheaper, faster, lower-risk way to validate new grid systems and renewable energy technologies before they're deployed.

Capabilities

The laboratory has 2 50-kW grid emulators, one direct current and once alternating current, and will soon welcome a larger 400-kW grid emulator, too. All can emulate microgrids and nanogrids, but the new tool can simulate how multiple technologies, such as a wind turbine and wave energy converter, can pair together to create smaller-scale grids that support remote or island-based communities.

Success Story

To prepare C-Power's SeaRAY autonomous offshore power system for a 6-month ocean trial at the U.S. Navy Wave Energy Test Site in Hawaii, NLR researchers simulated rolling ocean movements at the laboratory's Flatirons Campus in Colorado. With NLR's novel field data collection and control system, called Modular Ocean-source Data Acquisition (MODAQ) and NLR's grid emulation capabilities, the team was able to verify that the SeaRAY autonomous offshore power system operates as intended while rocking with ocean waves and can power a seafloor automated underwater vehicle charging station.

Photo by Werner Slocum, National Laboratory of the Rockies

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