Meet the Team Connecting Clean Energy to the Grid
Meet the Team Connecting Clean Energy to the Grid
The renewable energy evolution requires feats of logistics and continuous learning. These engineers bring innovation and creativity to move the industry forward.
在推動行業發展時，可再生能源革命需要物流奇蹟和持續的學習。這些工程師通過創新和創造力來推動行業發展。
By Jen McGivney, illumination Contributor
撰稿人：Jen McGivney, illumination.
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / June 26, 2024 / For more than a century, energy flowed in one direction; wires went up, electricity went out, customers were served. That's changing, quickly. Now, multiple sources of renewable energy - like solar and battery storage - direct power back into the grid, creating multi-way power flows.
美國馬薩諸塞州諾思安普敦 / ACCESSWIRE / 2024年6月26日 / 一個多世紀以來，電力向單一方向流動；電線升起，電力輸送，爲客戶提供服務。然而，這種情況正在迅速改變。現在，多種可再生能源如太陽能和電池儲能正將電力直接反饋到電網上，創造多向電力流動。
Distributed energy is transforming the work of energy utilities. These flexible energy generation and storage technologies provide energy when customers need it most. And they support the two-way power flow needed to expand cleaner energy options, while enabling grid improvements that enhance reliability for customers.
分佈式能源正在改變能源公用事業的工作方式。這些靈活的能源發電和儲存技術爲客戶在最需要時提供能源。它們支持雙向電力流動，擴大了更清潔能源選擇的範圍，並實現了增強客戶可靠性的電網改進。
"The folks who work in the energy industry today have seen more change in the last few decades than the industry's seen in the last 150 years," said Jason Handley, general manager of Duke Energy's Distributed Energy Group. "We're evolving as a utility and as a country as we have more renewable energy on our grid."
杜克能源分佈式能源集團總經理傑森·漢德利表示：“今天的能源行業工作者在過去幾十年裏目睹了更多的變化，比過去的150年性質還要大。”我們作爲公用事業和國家在電網上接納更多可再生能源時正在發展。
Before a utility can achieve the renewable dream, however, it must overcome a logistical nightmare. If the wrong kind of project connects to the grid, it could compromise the reliability of the entire grid. This creates a tough balance: How can a utility move at the speed of innovation while maintaining the pace of reliability?
然而，在公用事業實現可再生能源夢想之前，必須克服物流噩夢。如果錯誤的項目連接到電網，可能會危及整個電網的可靠性。這就產生了一個艱難的平衡：公用事業如何以創新的速度行動，同時保持可靠性的步伐？
Duke Energy aimed to answer that question in 2018 when it formed the Distributed Generation (DG) team. Led by Director of Interconnection Neil Bhagat, the DG team devises strategies and processes to connect renewable energy projects to the grid.
杜克能源於2018年成立分佈式發電（DG）團隊，目的是回答這個問題。DG團隊由連通總監尼爾·巴格特領導，制定將可再生能源項目連接到電網的戰略和流程。
"We built this from the ground up," Bhagat said. "It was exciting, having a start-up environment backed by a company like Duke Energy, while putting together a team that is passionate about the energy transition."
巴格特說：“我們從零開始構建這個團隊。”“這很令人興奮，杜克能源支持了一個創業的環境，並組建了一個充滿熱情的團隊，他們專注於能源轉型。”
Assembling a 'sophisticated puzzle'
組裝“複雜的拼圖”
Interconnection is the complex process of connecting new electricity generators - like wind, solar and energy storage - to the electric grid.
連網是將新的發電設備如風力發電、太陽能和儲能系統連接到電網的複雜過程。
To help maintain the safety, reliability and power quality of the electric power system, all utility-connected distributed energy projects must undergo a series of impact studies before they can be built. This process establishes what new transmission equipment or upgrades may be needed before a project can safely and reliably connect to the system.
爲了幫助維護電力系統的安全、可靠和電能質量，所有與公用事業相連的分佈式能源項目在建設之前都必須經過一系列的影響研究。這個過程將確定在項目可以安全、可靠地連接到系統之前可能需要的新傳輸設備或升級。
As projects wait to be considered, they go into what's known as an interconnection queue. Initially, several Duke Energy planning engineers handled these tasks along with their usual work. But as North Carolina and dozens of other U.S. states began passing distributed energy incentives, the number of projects in the queue grew dramatically.
這些項目在等待考慮時，進入所謂的連網隊列。最初，幾名杜克能源規劃工程師與他們通常的工作一起承擔這些任務。但是，隨着北卡羅來納州和其他幾十個美國州通過分佈式能源激勵措施，隊列中項目的數量急劇增加。
So, the company brought together an in-house team of innovative engineers - the DG team - to improve the interconnection process and help connect more clean energy to the grid.
因此，該公司組織了一個內部團隊——DG團隊的優秀工程師，來改進內部連接過程，幫助更多的清潔能源連接到電網。
Expanding renewables is critically important as Duke Energy looks to retire its remaining coal-fired facilities, while also preparing to meet an extraordinary increase in demand for electricity. To maintain reliability for customers, the company has proposed significant investments in cleaner generation, including thousands of megawatts of zero-carbon solar and a lot more battery energy storage, devices that enable renewable energy to be stored, then released when demand for electricity is high.
擴大可再生能源對杜克能源而言至關重要，因爲公司準備退役其餘的燃煤廠，同時也爲應對電力需求的顯著增長做好準備。但爲了保證客戶的可靠性，公司提出了重大投資計劃，包括數千兆瓦的零碳太陽能和更多的電力儲存，這些設備可以存儲可再生能源，然後在電力需求高峰時釋放。
"As the company executes its clean energy transition, it is assembling a sophisticated puzzle," said Katherine Neebe, Duke Energy's chief sustainability officer. "Each piece - energy generation and storage, grid modernization, supporting communities and working with various stakeholders, multiskilling employees and reducing carbon emissions - is essential. It's about finding the perfect fit for each piece to create a final picture that reveals a landscape of sustainable and interconnected solutions."
杜克能源首席可持續官凱瑟琳·尼比說：“隨着公司執行其清潔能源轉型策略，它正在組裝一張複雜的拼圖。”“每個部分—能源發生成市，電網現代化，支持社區和與各方利益相關者合作，讓員工成爲多技能人才，減少碳排放—都是至關重要的。找到每個部分的適合位置，創建一個可持續和互聯的解決方案的整體畫面。”
Meeting a growing demand for renewable energy
應對可再生能源日益增長的需求
Today, the DG team is comprised of distributed energy resource thought leaders, as well as recent graduates with fresh ideas. All team members share two important traits: comfort with uncertainty and creativity with solutions. They continuously elevate their skills to solve challenges that didn't exist a few years ago - and that keep changing as renewable technology evolves.
現在，DG團隊由分佈式能源資源的領軍人物和具有創新思想的畢業生組成。所有團隊成員都具有兩個重要的特點：舒適面對不確定性，以及在解決以前幾年不存在的挑戰和隨着可再生技術的不斷髮展而不斷變化的解決方案上具有創造力。
"The type of work we do is not, 'Come in, open a book, and follow the same 10 to 12 steps every day. Repeat, repeat, repeat,'" said Trent Miller, the team's lead engineer. "Here, we come in to see what today's challenge is. What's new to learn today? We're changing from one week to the next."
團隊的首席工程師特倫特·米勒說：“我們的工作類型不是‘來了，打開一本書，每天按照同樣的十到十二個步驟做事。重複，重複，重複。”，而是像今天的挑戰一樣，每天學習些什麼新東西？我們從一週到下一週在發生變化。”
Duke Energy's microgrid in Hot Springs, N.C., is one of the first major projects they studied. Comprised of a 4.4-megawatt (MW) battery storage facility and a 2-MW (AC) solar facility, microgrid">the advanced microgrid can power the entire town of Hot Springs during an outage, improving reliability for customers.
杜克能源位於熱泉（NC）的微型電網是他們研究的第一個重大項目之一。由4.4兆瓦（MW）電池儲能裝置和2兆瓦（交流）太陽能裝置組成的先進微型電網，在停電時可以爲全鎮提供電力，提高了客戶的可靠性。
New answer for an old problem
爲老問題提供新的解決方案
When the DG team formed, its first challenge was a daunting one. Duke Energy, like other utilities around the country, faced a queue of hundreds of renewable projects, all awaiting a lengthy review process.
當 DG 團隊成立時，它的第一個挑戰是一個令人望而生畏的任務。和全國其他公用事業公司一樣，Duke Energy 面臨着數以百計的可再生項目隊列，都在等待漫長的審查過程。
This encouraged Duke Energy to reform the interconnection process. Distributed Generation went from studying projects individually to studying them in "clusters," a process that significantly reduced interconnection queue wait times.
這促使 Duke Energy 改革了互連過程。分佈式發電從研究每個項目轉變爲研究它們的“群集”，這個過程大大縮短了互聯隊列等待時間。
"That doesn't mean they all came to fruition, or that they connected to the grid, but we found a way to move them through the queue," Bhagat said. "Projects can drop out of the interconnection process for several reasons - for example, the upgrade costs could be much higher than they had expected."
“這並不意味着他們全部能成一件事，或者連接到電網，但我們找到了一個方法，可以通過隊列。” Bhagat 說，“項目可能因爲多種原因從互聯過程中退出——例如，升級成本可能比他們預期的要高得多。”
The team also found new ways to use modeling software to predict how potential projects may impact the grid. This became an efficient way to foresee potential disturbances and to make necessary adjustments to projects.
該團隊還發現了使用建模軟件預測潛在項目可能如何影響電網的新方法。這成爲一個有效的方式來預見潛在的干擾並對項目進行必要的調整。
"This is a much more reliable and repeatable process," Handley said, "and it provides certainty - not only for Duke Energy, but for our third-party customers who want to connect to the grid."
“這是一個更可靠、可重複的過程，”Handley 說，“它提供了確定性——不僅對 Duke Energy，還對我們想要連接到電網的第三方客戶來說。”
'A utility of the future'
“未來的公用事業”
With these new processes in place, the DG team looks to embrace the next advancements and emerging technologies that will help Duke Energy reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
有了這些新的流程，DG 團隊希望擁抱下一個有助於 Duke Energy 在2050年實現淨零碳排放的先進技術和新興技術。
"Every day is a new day with different challenges. Now our focus is on energy storage and microgrids," said Kevin Chen, team manager. "The feeling that our team has helped the company, as well as the industry, reach a new place makes me proud of my team members."
“每一天都有新的挑戰。現在我們的重點是能源存儲和微電網，”團隊經理 Kevin Chen 說。“我們的團隊幫助公司以及整個行業達到新的高度的感覺，讓我爲我的團隊成員感到自豪。”
"We're turning into a utility of the future," Miller added, "and we've gotten to be right there when it happened."
“我們正在轉變成未來的公用事業，”Miller 補充道，“我們在這個過程中一直都在。”
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View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Duke Energy on 3blmedia.com.
在3blmedia.com上查看杜克能源的其他多媒體和更多的ESG故事。
Contact Info:
Spokesperson: Duke Energy
聯繫信息:
發言人:杜克能源
SOURCE: Duke Energy
來源:杜克能源
譯文內容由第三人軟體翻譯。