UI-ASSIST Annual Workshop 2023 Kicks Off

The sixth annual UI-ASSIST meeting kicked off on July 12th with introductory comments from Dr. Ankush Sharma and Dr. Noel Schulz, two of the project leads. Sharma gave a brief overview of the UI-ASSIST project, giving a rundown of the project’s themes and Schulz gave attendees the chance to introduce themselves and comments about the project wrapping up.

Dr. Anita Gupta from the Department Of Science & Technology in India presented her final thoughts virtually, followed by Chaitali Bhattacharya from the Indo-US Science & Technology Forum (IUSSTF) commented on the scope and size of the project.

From the United States Department of Energy, Merrill Smith spoke to conclude the introduction of the annual meeting, saying that she has been with the UI-ASSIST project since the beginning and has seen UI-ASSIST mature and progress. Smith said at the beginning, she thought the scope of the project was huge, and the coordination between two countries would be difficult, but as the UI-ASSIST project ends, new opportunities will hopefully be opened up.

The first session began with members from the United States side and the Indian side giving presentations that fall under the focus of Energy Storage Analysis and Field/Lab Demonstrations. Those two topics relate to theme three and combine aspects of themes eight and nine. Theme three is “Energy Storage: Modeling and Optimal Management” and themes eight and nine are “Lab Testing and Validation” and “Field Demonstration” respectively.

The first session of the annual meeting focused on Energy Storage Analysis and Field/Lab Demonstrations, including BESS. Dr. Olive Ray from the Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar (IITBS) spoke about Storage Technology Selection and Siting, and Storage integration in Urban Pilots.

Alasdair Crawford from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) spoke about the purpose of BESS modeling. BESS stands for “Battery Energy Storage System” and is a system that stores energy that can then later be released for use.

From the Lawrence Berkely National Lab (LBNL), Nicholas DeForest presented virtually, about a tool called DER-CAM (The Distributed Energy Resources Customer Adoption Model) and its use to find the optimal way to set up a DER (Distributed Energy Resource).

Rabab Haider, a post-doctoral student from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) spoke about parameter identification and machine learning goals and a Multi-Period Nonlinear Optimal Power Flow Problem, with storage.