KNOXVILLE – In a satellite research facility of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, researchers are analyzing billions of bits of data gathered in Chattanooga to help shape America’s energy future.
Using EPB’s fiber-optic network and smart grid in Chattanooga, ORNL scientists here are able to remotely and virtually test ways to better deploy the power grid to maintain reliable electricity supplies in a cleaner, more efficient manner.
“President Biden has a goal of getting to 100% clean electricity generation by 2035 and net-zero carbo emissions by 2050,” U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said during a recent visit here. “The solutions that are being worked on here at this lab are the solutions that we need to deploy to meet these goals. The great thing about being near a facility like this is that the lab is thinking into the future even as it is helping industries in the present.”
EPB signed a memorandum of understanding to work with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 2014, allowing Department of Energy researchers to connect with EPB’s fiber network that runs both its smart electric grid and the nation’s first citywide high-speed broadband internet network.
ORNL is developing grid technologies, cybersecurity equipment and battery storage capabilities to help utilities like EPB adapt to the emerging distributed energy market where more power is generated at scattered sites from solar panels, windmills and other renewable sources.