image: UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair Professor for Power Grids Yilu Liu has won her fourth R&D 100 Award in five years.
Credit: University of Tennessee
UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair Professor for Power Grids Yilu Liu has won her fourth R&D 100 Award in five years. The R&D 100 Awards have served as the most prestigious innovation awards program for the last 60 years. Their main purpose is highlighting revolutionary pioneers in science and technology.
The most recent award recognizes InertiaMeter, which is a new method for calculating a power grid’s inertia in real time. This tool was a crucial development for green energy moving forward, as clean energy resources create little to no grid inertia, which keeps the system balanced between generation and demand. Scientists from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the University of Tennessee figured out that it’s possible to use signals from pumped storage hydropower projects to monitor grid inertia.
The team was able to create an algorithm that allows for information to be gathered from low-cost grid sensors across the nation, which allows for real-time, highly-accurate estimation of grid inertia. They also created a visualization tool that allows grid operators to easily monitor inertia and prepare for potential grid instability.
InertiaMeter will allow grid operators to monitor real-time inertia to prevent outages as the grid relies more and more on renewable energy sources.
“This is our 5th R&D 100 Award, but first time to get the silver medal,” Liu said. “The recognition means a great deal to our students involved and it will help them kick-start their career at a better level. To me it is another validation of our continued effort to do good work for the energy industry.”
Liu is also hopeful about future collaborations between UT and ORNL, saying “For the university, it showed the collaboration with ORNL could be mutually fruitful. Even though UT’s mission is to produce to a high-quality work force for the state and country, the research work we do could also benefit the society directly.”
Moving forward, Liu believes InertiaMeter, and technologies like it, will help push open the doors to a more sustainable future for everyone.