The IEEE Industry Standards and Technology Organization (ISTO), an international federation of groups and consortia dedicated to the advancement of standardized technologies for the benefit of industry, announced formation of the Universal Interoperability for Grid-Forming Inverters (UNIFI) Consortium.
The UNIFI Consortium is a U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) funded effort to advance grid-forming (GFM) inverter technology, officially forming as an unincorporated 501c6 not for profit with ISTO.
UNIFI aims to facilitate the transition of electric power grids around the world to accommodate grid-forming technology across all power levels.
The UNIFI team brings together researchers, industry stakeholders, utilities, and system operators to collaboratively pursue advances in a broad range of GFM technologies, led by DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), The University of Texas – Austin, and EPRI. UNIFI intends to cultivate and foster a culture of engagement and innovation by bringing together expertise across technology sectors to identify and fill gaps in technologies, business models, standards, and human factors.
UNIFI is conducting and coordinating research, development, and demonstration, as well as creating educational and workforce training materials focusing on planning, designing, and operating grids with a high level of GFM Inverter-based Resources (IBRs).
Activities are organized around three areas: research & development (R&D), demonstration & commercialization (D&C), and outreach & training (O&T). UNIFI also works to unite the integration of conventional power plants with inverter-based resources in power systems across all physical scales.
“The UNIFI Consortium is tackling the challenge of making sure that large power systems are capable of integrating as much wind, solar, batteries, and other inverter- based resources as possible while maintaining the operational stability, reliability, and resilience of the grid,” said Ben Kroposki, NREL, UNIFI Consortium Organizational Director.
UNIFI’s relevance, value, and impact revolve around facilitating the integration of renewables, driving transportation electrification, and broadly expanding electrification efforts through grid-forming inverter technology. The Consortium is governed by UNIFI’s leadership team, composed of experts from across academia, industry, and research laboratories.
Currently, UNIFI has 37 members, including utilities, system operators, inverter manufacturers, renewable energy integrators, software vendors, research laboratories and universities. UNIFI is accepting membership applications from organizations looking to contribute to the improvement of GFM technology, support research and specification development and network with industry experts.
UNIFI offers various membership tiers to accommodate different requirements and levels of participation.
