Palo Alto, CALIFORNIA – The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and the University of Washington are creating a consortium to advance research on grid-forming inverters.

The industry-wide Universal Interoperability for Grid-Forming Inverters (UNIFI) Consortium is funded through a $25 million DOE award. The public-private consortium aims to enable power-sector decarbonization through 2035, EPRI said in a press release.

In addition to EPRI, NREL, and the University of Washington, the UNIFI consortium currently includes:

• three DOE national laboratories
• eleven North American universities
• six inverter manufacturers
• five simulation software vendors
• two North American system operators
• eight North American power system utilities

The diverse group will work together to conceptualize, model, test, and develop future inverter technology that will improve the integration of clean energy resources such as solar photovoltaics, stationary energy storage, and wind power into the electric power grid. The consortium will also develop specifications and standards for enabling interoperability between inverters from different manufacturers.

Expected outcomes include the creation of system-stabilizing inverter controllers, simulation techniques, and hardware testbeds that facilitate grid resilience and reliability, EPRI said in a press release. The consortium will work to create future educational curricula and support workforce development initiatives while broadly disseminating research results throughout the industry.

Source: EPRI