Behind the Plug

Join GE’s Grid Ambassador, Ellie Electricity, for an exciting journey “behind the plug,” as she shows how the grid works today, and the work GE scientists and engineers are doing to modernize it for a zero-carbon energy future.

GE Building a Modernized Grid Fit For a Zero Carbon Future

Today, we’re living through a revolutionary energy transition to address climate change, as the US and countries around the world bring more renewable power online and electric vehicles become more prevalent on our roads and highways. The power generation mix is changing too, with electricity not just being generated upstream through major load centers, but at the distribution level and even behind the meter.

All of these trends beg the question … is the grid ready to handle the massive increase in demand and variability coming its way?

GE, together with our industry and government partners, are at the forefront of new innovations and technologies that will make sure our grid is indeed ready. With products and technologies that help produce 1/3 of the world’s electricity and a footprint spanning the grid from power generation to the home, we’re focused “behind the plug” on improving the stability, resiliency and operability of the grid that's required to support a zero carbon future.

STABILITY

How do you keep the grid output consistent and stable as millions of variable solar panels and wind farms get added and energy storage plays a larger role?

Mike Bowman, Chief Technology Officer of GE Renewable Energy’s Hybrids business, discusses the innovative storage technologies GE is developing to stabilize the grid as we move from a fossil-based energy system to a more renewable-intensive mix where the generation is more flexible and variable as wind speeds change or sunlight shines or fades behind clouds:

As more renewables come online and eventually represent a majority of the power produced, advanced technologies like grid-forming inverter controls and fast frequency response will be needed to manage the uneven flow of wind and solar power through multiple inverters. We’re already seeing a demand for this technology in the UK and other parts of Europe where renewable penetrations already are high.

Phil Hart, a Senior Engineer in the Electric Power Systems Lab at GE Research, explains the role grid-forming inverter controls and fast frequency response can play in stabilizing wind and solar power:

RESILIENCY

How can the grid be strengthened to prevent power from being knocked out by storms and fires made more ferocious and frequent by climate-change?

Ibrahima Ndiaye, the Technology Manager for Power Electronics at GE Research, is leading a project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy in partnership with Prolec GE and our utility partner, Cooperative Energy, to pilot the world’s first large flexible transformer. Ibrahima explains how this new transformer technology will support higher penetrations of renewable generation and improve grid resiliency by offering more flexibility for fault management, frequency, and voltage regulation:

This world first large flexible transformer is installed and being piloted at one of Cooperative Energy’s major substations in Columbia, MS. Watch as Jeff C. Bowman, President and CEO of Cooperative Energy, explains how this new technology will help utilities better standardize large power transformer interchangeability to enable faster replacements if a transformer goes down and reduced outage times:

Another important piece of ensuring resilient, stable operations is the advancement and growth of microgrids, which are local power networks often connected to the grid but which can operate separately when power outages occur.

Mital Kanabar, a Global Application Architect for GE's Grid Solutions discusses GE’s microgrid solution, including a few case studies that have helped to ensure resilient, stable power supply to critical operations:

OPERABILITY

How can digital technologies and solutions help create the new foundation for grid operations that will be needed to manage a dynamic, zero carbon power grid?

Sean Moser, Senior Vice President, Chief Product Officer, GE Digital Grid, discusses the emerging “Internet of Electrons” and how digital technologies can improve the grid’s operability and meet the challenge of orchestrating a decarbonized energy future: