Grid-Forming Technologies Enabling a Decarbonized Power System [Technology Leaders]
Guohui Yuan
Abstract
Electric Power Systems are undergoing rapid transformations toward those having increasing proportions of renewable generation (such as wind and solar), significant amounts of energy storage, advanced grid infrastructures, and a myriad of end-use electrification technologies. Driven by drastic cost reductions and deployment incentives, the solar contribution to U.S. electricity generation has increased from less than 0.1% in 2010 to 3.3% in 2020. Wind generation has seen similar trends in cost reduction and accounted for 8.4% of U.S. electricity generation in 2020. [See Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), “What is U.S. electricity generation by energy source?,” eia.gov/tools/faqs/.] To achieve the Biden administration’s clean energy goals, hundreds of gigawatts more of wind and solar will need to come online in the next 15 years. Similar transformations are happening at a global scale, and countries have laid out pathways to achieve a net-zero energy sector by 2050 to tackle climate change. (See 2 Net Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector, <uri>https://www.iea.org/events/net-zero-by-2050-a-roadmap-for-the-global-energy-system</uri>.)