IEEE Electrification - March 2022 - 9

road map for grid-forming inverters
(see the database of Lin et al. 2020).
It introduces formal definitions for
the grid stability topics and then
describes the fundamental differences
between grid-forming and
traditional grid-following control
approaches for IBRs. It then highlights
open research questions that
must be addressed to enable the
widespread adoption of IBRs across
the grid. This road map concludes by
offering a multiyear perspective on
the gradual field validation of gridforming
inverters.
Following this road map and other
seminal research (see the European
Union's programs on the Massive
Integration of Power Electronic
Devices project, https://www.h2020
-migrate.eu/, and the RE-SERVE project,
http://www.re-serve.eu/), in December
2020, the U.S. Department of Energy's
(DOE's) Solar Energy Technologies
Office and Wind Energy Technologies
Office jointly announced a funding
opportunity (https://www.energy.gov/
articles/energy-department-announces
-45-million-funding-solar-technologies)
to create a consortium to advance
research, development, and demonstration
of grid-forming technologies
and to build an ecosystem with
geographic diversity, strong stakeholder
engagement, commercialization,
and clear pathways for wide
adoption by the industry.
In August 2021, the DOE announced
the competitive selection of
the NREL, the University of Washington,
and the Electric Power Research
Institute to colead an industry-wide
consortium, called the Universal
Interoperability for Grid-Forming
Inverters (UNIFI) Consortium. This
partnership will champion a systems
integration approach to identify and
fill gaps in grid-forming technologies,
business models, requirement standards,
and human factors. UNIFI
includes three main thrusts: R&D,
commercialization and demonstration,
and education and outreach.
Achieving a Decarbonized
Power System
The Solar Futures Study (https://
www.energy.gov/eere/solar/solar
-futures-study), recently released by
the DOE, finds that, with aggressive
cost reductions, supportive policies,
and large-scale electrification, solar
power could account for as much as
40% of the nation's electricity supply
by 2035 and 45% by 2050. While today's
renewable energy inverters are
predominantly of the grid-following
type, the level of solar, wind, and energy
storage integration achievable in
future grids will depend on how well
grid-following and grid-forming inverters
work together to ensure system
reliability and resilience. We are excited
to have taken the first big steps!
Disclaimer
The views and opinions of the author
expressed herein do not necessarily
state or reflect those of the U.S. government
or any agency thereof.
For Further Reading
Z. Huang, H. Krishnaswami, G. Yuan,
and R. Huang, " Ubiquitous power electronics
in future power systems: Recommendations
to fully utilize fast
control capabilities, " IEEE Electrific. Mag.,
vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 18-27, Sep. 2020, doi:
10.1109/MELE.2020.3005696.
Y. Lin et al., " Research roadmap on
grid-forming inverters, " National
Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden,
CO, USA, No. NREL/TP-5D00-73476, 2020.
Biography
Guohui Yuan (guohui.yuan@ee.doe
.gov) is with the U.S. Department of
Energy, Solar Energy Technologies
Office, Washington, DC, 20585, USA.
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IEEE Electrification Magazine / MARCH 2022
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