Tennessee Municipal Utility Preps for National Lab Microgrid Controls Demonstration Project

With the installation of new microgrid equipment in its network, the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga (EPB) and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) are one step closer to demonstrating the next generation of advanced microgrids.

EBP, a regional utility in Tennessee, is partnering with the Department of Energy’s ORNL to test a new microgrid control platform that will enable a microgrid’s boundaries to expand or contract based on needs and available resources.

Microgrids typically leverage distributed energy resources to serve a distinct geographic footprint — such as a college campus, hospital complex or neighborhood — during a grid outage. ORNL’s advanced control platform will enable the utility to serve customers outside the microgrid’s borders, enhancing grid resilience.

The control platform will also allow smaller interconnected grids within the existing distribution system to control or support other grids, creating “nested” microgrids.

“The Department of Energy isn’t just talking about strengthening America’s energy system — we’re out here building it,” Katie Jereza, assistant secretary for the DOE’s Office of Electricity, said in a statement.

“Microgrids make electricity more dependable when it’s needed most and help reduce energy costs when demand spikes,” Jereza added. “The combined forces of utilities and national labs can quickly take new technology to the grid, keeping energy affordable, reliable and secure for every American.”

The project expands EPB’s microgrid fleet

EPB of Chattanooga provides electricity, internet, television and phone services to more than 178,000 homes and businesses in east Tennessee and northwest Georgia. 

Through its partnership with ORNL, EPB augmented its existing three-microgrid network with approximately 58 MWh of additional energy storage, distributed across a five-microgrid system spanning two sites.

These facilities can support more than 1,000 residential customers during a grid outage, as well as critical facilities such as fire stations, community centers and grocery stores.

“At EPB, our mission to enhance local quality of life drives our efforts to deliver reliable, affordable energy for the people we serve,” David Wade, CEO of EPB said in a statement. “Working with the Department of Energy and Oak Ridge National Laboratory allows us to test and deploy new technologies to benefit our customers. Together, we’re developing practical solutions that help us reduce the impact of outages while managing costs more effectively over time for our customers.”

ORNL is developing and testing the advanced microgrid platform at its Grid Research Innovation and Development Center (GRID-C) and plans to begin the demonstration project with EPB next year.

“National laboratories accelerate grid modernization technologies from concept, to scale up, to deployment in the nation’s electric grid,” Stephen Streiffer, laboratory director at ORNL said in a statement. “Microgrid innovations demonstrated through utility partnerships are enabling safeguards for critical infrastructure and community services in the face of disasters.”

An ongoing partnership

EPB and ORNL have collaborated on a number of initiatives over the past decade, including the deployment of controls and sensor systems, building energy models and the development of a commercially available quantum network platform for running quantum applications over a fiber optic infrastructure.

Quantum applications are software programs that harness the behavior of subatomic particles to perform calculations that would take traditional computers years — or even centuries — to complete, opening new possibilities in fields like drug discovery, financial modeling, and cybersecurity.

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