1. Pre-class Preparation
a. Perform the brief pre-class survey at: http://www.hss-1.us/sunyit/solarcamp/cases/gridop/courses/Ualb-atm413/pre-ex-survey.doc (feedback to help us understand what needs to be
presented to future classes)
b. Read the brief background material at:
http://www.hss-1.us/sunyit/solarcamp/cases/grid-op/courses/Ualb-atm413/background-info-ualbany-atm-413.pdf
c. Review the pre-class preparation questions and answers at:
http://www.hss-1.us/sunyit/solarcamp/cases/grid-op/courses/Ualb-atm413/pre-ex-quest-key.pdf
2. In Class Student Lesson Plan
a. In-class: Prep for grid management exercises:
i. Short review of background of electrical grid and renewables
ii. Go through training case with the instructor. Note: for all cases you may use the
"Weather Forecasting Service" option to make your weather forecasts.
b. Perform the Cases:
 Experiment with the cases in this order: 1) summer, 2) winter, 3) spring, 4) fall.
 Students may work in pairs
i. For the summer case, do the following:
1. Set the base load of your community at 1500
2. Perform an ‘all firm’ power case: (firm power: energy available for
production/transmission which can be guaranteed to be available at a given time.)
- Set the nuclear max capacity to 26 MW
- Set the conventional max capacity to 80 MW
- Set the wind, solar, hydro and other to 0 MW
- Make your weather forecasts, and complete the exercise
- Answer the following questions:
a. Record your initial answer to "Conventional power over or
under produced":
b. If only firm power generation is use, what is/are the weather element(s)
that impacts your conventional power call-up decision? That is, what was
the cause of your over or under forecast of power?
c. What part of the process, electrical load demand or power generation, did
the weather element(s) impact?.
3. Record the actual temperature and actual load demand, compare with your
forecasted temperature and load.
4. Perform an all renewable (weather impacted) power case:
- Set the nuclear, conventional and other power to 0 MW
- Set:
-- wind to 12 MW
-- solar to 5 MW,
-- hydro 15 MW
- Make your weather forecasts, and complete the exercise as series of controlled
experiments
-- For each case in your experimental series increase, the amount of each
renewable by the same factor such as 2, 3, 4 etc. until you can meet your community’s energy
demand.
- Answer the following questions:
a. Record your initial answer to “Net renewable power provided to grid over
or under the forecast"
b. If only renewable power generation is used, what is/are the weather
element(s) that impact(s) the amount of power needed and the ability to generate power.
c For the "all renewable energy case" what is the primary weather
element that impacts the energy demand (load) of your community? Was this any different
from the "all firm power case"?
ii. For the winter case do the following:
For each case do the following:
Do the following:
1. Set the base load of your community as 1500
2. Perform an ‘all firm’ power case:
- Set the nuclear max capacity to 26 MW
- Set the conventional max capacity to 80 MW
- Set the wind, solar, hydro and other to 0 MW
- Make your weather forecasts, and complete the exercise
- Answer the following questions:
a. Record your initial answer to "Conventional power over or
under produced":
b. If only firm power generation is used what is/are the weather element(s)
that impact(s) your conventional power call up decision? That is, what
was the cause of your over or under forecast of power?
c What part of the process, electrical load demand or power generation, did
the weather element(s) impact?
3. Record the actual temperature and actual load demand, compare with your
forecasted temperature and load.
4. Perform an all renewable power case:
- Set the nuclear, conventional and other power to 0 MW
- Set:
-- wind to 12 MW
-- solar to 5 MW,
-- hydro 15 MW
- Make your weather forecasts, and complete the exercise a series of times
-- For each case in your experimental series, increase the amount of each
renewable by the same factor such as 2, 3, 4 etc. until you can meet your community’s energy
demand.
- Answer the following questions:
a. Record your initial answer to “Net renewable power provided to grid over
or under the forecast"
b. If only renewable power generation is used, what is/are the weather
element(s) that impact(s) the amount of power needed and the ability to generate power.
c For the "all renewable energy case" what is the primary weather
element that impacts the energy demand (load) of your community? Was this any different
from the "all firm power case"?
d How much cloud cover was observed? How much solar power was
generated?
e. What does this indicate in terms of the ability of solar power generation
to generate energy under overcast conditions?
iii. For the Spring Case do the following:
1. Set the base load of your community to 1500
2. Perform an experimental case using the following:
- Set the nuclear max capacity to 26 MW
- Set the conventional max capacity to 80 MW
- Set:
-- wind to 12 MW
-- solar to 5 MW
-- hydro 15MW
- Make your weather forecasts, and complete the exercise
a Record your initial answer to “Net renewable power provided to grid over
or under the forecast"
b. Record your initial answer to "Conventional power over or
underproduced":
- How did your weather forecasts impact the load and power forecast?
3. Record the actual temperature and actual demand
iv. Optional, for the Fall Case, do the following:
1. Set the base load of your community to 1500
2. Perform an experimental case using the following:
- Set the nuclear max capacity to 26 MW
- Set the conventional max capacity to 80 MW
- Set:
-- wind to 12 MW
-- solar to 5 MW
-- hydro 15MW
- Make your weather forecasts, and complete the exercise
a Record your initial answer to “Net renewable power provided to grid over
or under the forecast"
b. Record your initial answer to "Conventional power over or
underproduced":
- How did your weather forecasts impact the load and power forecast?
3. Record the actual temperature and actual demand
c. Exercise Summary Questions to be discussed in class:
1. What is an electrical grid and what are the three major components of any electrical grid?
2. What is the current state of the electrical grid in the US?
3. What is the current state of renewables in the US and their impact on managing the grid?
4. Which renewable energy is currently the most significant in terms of:
a. meeting current demand
b. helping meeting demand within the next ten years
c. helping meet demand after ten years.
5. What is the relationship of the smart grid and the integration of renewables into the electrical
grid as a power generation source?
6. What weather variable did you find had the largest impact on load and what was the general
relationship?
7. Which renewable energy production do you think would be most difficult to predict?
8. What did you find was the impact of adding renewable energy generation sources in terms of
the ability of you to meet your community’s energy needs?
9. Can solar power plants generate power during overcast conditions?
10. What is the relationship between solar power and wind power in terms of time of peak
generation?
11. How will increasing the amount of wind and solar power over a large area impact the
variability and predictability of renewable power generation to support a grid?