Grid Research Innovation and Development Center Technology Collaborations for US Power Electronics Industries

Grid Research Innovation and Development Center

Technology Collaborations for US Power Electronics Industries

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is seeking industry partners to participate in short-term, collaborative projects within the Grid Research Innovation and Development Center (GRID-C) to accelerate development and deployment of grid integrated power electronics technologies. This opportunity will provide selected participants access to ORNL's experienced staff and unique equipment and capabilities to demonstrate advanced concepts with intent to develop and deploy innovative and energy efficient power electronics for electrified grid integration and modernization.

Description

UT-Battelle, LLC, acting under its Prime Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the management and operation of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, conducts research and development in support of the DOE Transformer Resilience and Advanced Components (TRAC) Program of the Office of Electricity (OE). The DOE TRAC program partners with industry, small business, universities, and other stakeholders to identify and invest in innovative technologies with the potential to accelerate the integration of grid systems and clean energy resources through power electronics technologies, as well to enhance the global competitiveness of the United States.

ORNL is requesting cost-shared proposals from industry to develop next generation technologies for grid modernization to support the mission of OE and TRAC for reliable, resilient, and secure electricity delivery systems. As part of the proposals submitted under this announcement, the proposers are expected to describe the enabling technologies as well as potential energy savings and novel non-energy impacts that may be realized by the targeted project.

Technology areas of interest

• Materials & Components: for grid devices, power electronics systems, grid storage devices
• Embedded Controllers: integrated advance analog and digital electronics, sensing devices
• Subsystems Devices and Interfaces: Converter, Inverter, controls and protection, prototypes, solid state components protection, transformers
• Resource Integration & Management Systems: Mutli-stage converters, Software Platforms, Algorithms
• Grid systems Architecture: real time systems modelling and evaluation
• Grid Modelling and Transient Analysis

Projects will be conducted during a short-time period. At least 20% cost share, which can be funds-in to ORNL or in-kind contributions (e.g., facilities, services, and staff time), is required on the part of the industrial participant. Participant cost-share cannot be met using funds from U.S. Government sources. Funds will not be provided to the industrial participant by ORNL. The intent is to increase the in-kind cost share from 20% to 50% in the future, that timing to be determined and approved by the TRAC program.

Note: THIS IS NOT A PROCUREMENT REQUEST.

Eligibility

Eligibility is limited to industries that currently manufacture in the U.S. for commercial applications in the residential or commercial grid hardware and power electronics market, or to industries that will be able to do so as a direct result of these collaborative efforts. There is no restriction based on the component or grid technology area, but should align with facilities, expertise, and capabilities of ORNL’s GRID-C.

Background

The Grid Research Innovation and Development Center (GRID-C) at ORNL offers access to distinctive world-leading capabilities bringing together electrification for utilities, buildings, and transportation sectors to support integration of grid systems and clean energy resources as well as leveraging advanced manufacturing capabilities at ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF). GRID-C embodies this combination with research and development in power and energy system, power electronics, components, controls, real-time platforms, simulation, modeling, and cybersecurity to provide a vertical integration to support demonstration of modernization, security, and resiliency for grid systems integration and clean energy resources.   ORNL’s expertise in power electronics and controls, materials, and hardware/software integration will assist the power electronics industries in accelerating the improvement existing and developing new innovative technologies. 

More information about the ORNL GRID-C can be found at: https://www.ornl.gov/content/grid-c-labs

From concept to commercialization, ORNL's world-leading facilities and expertise enable research focused on reducing the energy intensity of U.S. industry, supporting development of new products, and strengthening our nation's clean energy economy to meet the commercial and national security needs of tomorrow.

Objective

The objective of these GRID-C Technical Collaborations is to collaborate with industry to investigate, improve, develop, and deploy innovative integrated and resilient grid resources for further intelligent electrification at the grid interfaces. In so doing, creating and preserving domestic jobs is a goal of this solicitation.

The primary focus of this announcement is to target projects that will impact the following technical areas:

• Materials & Components: for grid devices, power electronics systems, grid storage devices
• Embedded Controllers: integrated advance analog and digital electronics, sensing devices
• Subsystems Devices and Interfaces: Converter, Inverter, controls and protection, prototypes, solid state components protection, transformers
• Resource Integration & Management Systems: Mutli-stage converters, Software Platforms, Algorithms
• Grid systems Architecture: real time systems modelling and evaluation
• Grid Modelling and Transient Analysis

Within these technical areas, the target projects could be related to hardware or software design, application or use case development, modeling and simulation for impact of system integration, test and evaluation of proposed technology, controls, or solutions, or small-scale prototyping in a relevant environment. 

Laboratory Support

It is anticipated that industrial partners will work collaboratively with members of the ORNL staff to conduct project activities across the various areas of expertise within GRID-C.

Intellectual Property and Proprietary Data

Projects will be performed with a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) as the contract instrument. See the announcement package for a sample CRADA agreement. DOE and ORNL respect the importance of industry's intellectual property and data security while balancing the need to document the benefits of public expenditures. Provisions relating to proprietary information and intellectual property are set forth in the CRADA. A Non-Disclosure agreement (NDA), if required, can be put into place during development of the project to facilitate discussions while protecting the partner's proprietary information.

It is preferred that proprietary information NOT be included in the proposal. If company proprietary information is included in the proposal, the specific information should be marked as such, and UT- Battelle/ORNL will treat that information as business confidential.

Proposal Guidelines

Proposals should be completed using the attached template in the announcement package.

Proposers are encouraged to consult with ORNL technical staff to develop a work scope that is technically feasible and compatible with ORNL facilities and capabilities.

Proposal Deadline and Submission

This announcement will remain open subject to availability of funding from the DOE Transformer Resilience and Advanced Components Program.

Completed proposals must be submitted in PDF file format by email to GRIDCcollaborations@ornl.gov. The subject line should include: ORNL GRID-C Technology Collaborations. Receipt of proposals will be confirmed within one week of submission.

Proposal Evaluation and Timeline

This is an open announcement. Selection of winning proposals will be at the discretion of the DOE TRAC. Proposal evaluation criteria will include compatibility with ORNL facilities and capabilities, technical feasibility and merit, the potential to commercialize new products and create US jobs, and the potential for improvement to grid components, electrification, and integration. TRAC reserves the right to select all, a portion, or none of the submissions.

Point of Contact

All questions relating to this announcement should be directed to Dr. Madhu Chinthavali by email, chinthavalim@ornl.gov, or by phone, (865) 341-1411.

Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) Information

Awardees are required to enter into a short-form CRADA with UT-Battelle. Because of the need for accelerated placement and execution of the projects, the most favorable terms allowable within DOE guidelines have been established and will not be subject to negotiation. Failure to enter into a CRADA in a timely manner will result in termination of further project consideration. CRADAs have provisions that address the protection of the partners' existing proprietary information and intellectual property, as well as the information and intellectual property generated and made during the collaboration. More specifically, each party owns its own inventions while jointly developed inventions will be jointly owned. In all cases, U.S. Government will retain government use rights. CRADA durations are expected to be at least one year.

For more specific terms and conditions, please review the model short-form CRADA attached to this announcement.