About the Wheatridge Project
Photo above: Wheatridge Renewable Energy Facility, the first-of-its-scale 380MW wind, solar and battery combined renewable power plant in North America
The grid services project at Wheatridge addresses the challenge of integrating renewable energy sources into the power grid while maintaining stability and reliability. The project demonstrates mixed grid-forming (GFM) and grid-following (GFL) technologies at the Wheatridge Renewable Energy Facility, fostering collaboration between grid engineers and inverter vendors to enhance grid stability and encourage the adoption of grid-forming capabilities by utilities.
This work was announced under DOE’s Solar and Wind Grid Services and Reliability Demonstration Funding Program | Department of Energy 
. DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) provided $4.5 million over three years.
One-line diagram of the Wheatridge with proposed updates
Project Partners:
Portland General Electric
GE Vernova Advanced Research
GE Vernova Onshore Wind
GE Vernova Solar and Storage Solutions
NextEra Energy
Bonneville Power Administration
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
The University of Texas at Austin
Portland State University
Industry Advisor Board Members:
Electric Reliability Council of Texas
Electranix Corporation
Hawaiian Electric
Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology
PacifiCorp
Western Electricity Coordinating Council
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Methods
Showcase various grid services using the Wheatridge hybrid plant with upgrades.
Convert part of Type-3 wind turbines to GFM and add a GFM battery storage system.
Enhance hybrid plant controller for smoother integration of different energy resources.
Test and compare GFM and GFL technologies across multiple grid service aspects.
Analyze dynamic responses of GFM and GFL to system events for stability insights.
Cost-benefit analysis and knowledge sharing.
Key Milestones
Interconnection Studies will be completed. Validate the technical and regulatory feasibility of GFM solutions by meeting performance requirements for GFM assets and grid services.
The GFM plant control will be commissioned, and at least one of the two GFM resource types (GFM wind and GFM BESS) will be confirmed.
GFM’s ability to control grid frequency and voltage, validating the practical application of the technology, will be demonstrated.
Conclusions
Interconnection studies ensure renewables integrate with the grid and meet regulations.
GFM plant control commissioning validates grid-forming resource functionality.
Frequency/voltage demonstrations showcase technology's practical application, enhancing grid stability.
Anticipated impact: widespread adoption of grid-forming capability bolsters reliability amidst renewable energy growth.