DOE Launches Next Phase of Competition to Strengthen Electrical Grid Resilience

The Department of Energy has launched the third part of its Grid Optimization Competition. Managed by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, Challenge 3 of the GO Competition is focused on developing software management solutions that can help address challenges in the power grid. The competition supports the Biden administration’s vision of improving the reliability and resilience of the U.S. electrical grid, ARPA-E said Wednesday.

According to ARPA-E, the government plans to award a combined $2.58 million to the teams participating in Challenge 3, which will build on the progress made in the previous stages of the competition. Challenge 1 was focused on developing solutions for a security constrained optimal power flow problem. The problem was expanded upon in Challenge 2.

For Challenge 3, participants will have to account for “time series data for weather, intermittent generation, commitment constraints and consumption,” ARPA-E said. The new challenge will also involve factors like storage, consumer participation, distributed energy resources and renewables.

In January, DOE announced the launch of an effort to enhance the capacity and resilience of the national electric grid. Funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, DOE’s “Building a Better Grid” initiative is focused on building out long-range high-voltage transmission facilities for communities that need them most.

DOE said the initiative supports the Biden administration’s vision of decarbonizing the electricity sector by 2035 and achieving a net-zero U.S. economy by 2050.