Demand for electrical energy is up within the United States, and so is its value. One solution to improve provide and decrease prices is to construct new energy vegetation, however that may take years and break the bank. Talgat Kopzhanov is engaged on a quicker, extra reasonably priced answer: the generator substitute interconnection course of.
The approach hyperlinks renewable power sources to the grid connections of shuttered or underutilized energy amenities and coal vegetation. The method makes use of the present interconnection rights and infrastructure when producing electrical energy, eliminating the years-long approval course of for setting up new U.S. energy amenities.
Talgat Kopzhanov
Employer
Center River Energy, in Chicago
Job title
Asset supervisor
Member grade
Senior member
Alma maters
Purdue College in West Lafayette, Ind., and Indiana College in Bloomington
Kopzhanov, an IEEE senior member, is an asset supervisor for Center River Energy, primarily based in Chicago. The personal fairness–sponsored funding and asset administration group makes a speciality of U.S. energy era belongings.
“Each energy plant has its personal interconnection rights,” he says, “however, amazingly, most are usually not absolutely using them.” Interconnection rights give a brand new energy supply—corresponding to photo voltaic power—permission to hook up with a high-voltage transmission system.
“We construct the brand new renewable power sources on high of them,” Kopzhanov says. “It’s like colocating a brand new energy plant.”
He just lately oversaw the set up of two generator-replacement interconnection initiatives, one for a photo voltaic system in Minnesota and the opposite for a battery storage facility in California.
A quick-track strategy that cuts prices
Synthetic intelligence knowledge facilities are driving up demand and elevating electrical energy payments globally. Though tech firms and traders are prepared to spend trillions of U.S. {dollars} setting up new energy amenities, it might probably take as much as seven years simply to safe the grid interconnection rights wanted to begin constructing a plant, Kopzhanov says. The prolonged course of entails system planning, allow requests, and regulatory approvals. Solely about 5 p.c of latest initiatives are accepted annually, he says, partially due to grid reliability points.
The interconnection approach takes about half the time, he says, bringing cleaner power on-line quicker. By overcoming interconnection bottlenecks, corresponding to main transmission upgrades that delay renewable initiatives, the method hurries up venture timelines and lowers bills.
Kopzhanov explains the approach in an on-demand academic webinar, Unlocking Surplus Interconnection Service. Colocating Renewable and Thermal Energy Crops, hosted by the IEEE Energy & Power Society. The webinar is offered to the general public for a charge.
Kopzhanov has been concerned with a number of current generator substitute interconnection installations. In Could the Sherco Photo voltaic venture in Sherburne County, Minn., changed a retiring coal plant with roughly 720 megawatts of solar-powered mills, making it the most important solar-generating facility within the area. The primary 460 MW of capability is predicted to be operational quickly.
One other new venture, developed with Center River, is a battery system put in in April at California’s Hanford Hybrid Power Heart, a pure fuel reliability facility. It used current and incremental interconnection capability so as to add the storage system. The excess renewable power from the batteries will probably be used throughout peak occasions to cut back the plant’s greenhouse fuel emissions, in response to a Silicon Valley Clear Power article concerning the set up.
“These initiatives are uniquely positioned to be colocated with current energy vegetation,” Kopzhanov says. “However, on the identical time, they’re renewable and sustainable sources of energy—which can also be serving to to decarbonize the setting and meet the emission-reduction objectives of the state.”
Influenced by Kazakhstan’s energy trade
Born and raised in Taraz, Kazakhstan, Kopzhanov was surrounded by family who labored within the energy trade. It’s not stunning that he has pursued a profession within the area.
Till 1991, when the nation was nonetheless a Soviet republic, most Kazakhs had been required to assist construct the nation’s energy and transmission techniques, he says. His mom and father are chemical engineers, and his grandfather was concerned within the energy trade. They instructed him about how they designed the transformers and overhead energy strains. From a younger age, he knew he wished to be an engineer too, he says.
As we speak the Central Asian nation is a serious producer of oil, fuel, and coal.
Kopzhanov left Kazakhstan in 2008 to pursue a bachelor’s diploma in electrical engineering at Purdue College, in West Lafayette, Ind.
After graduating in 2012, he was employed as {an electrical} design engineer by Fluor Corp. in Farnborough, England. He oversaw the event of a grasp plan for an influence venture there. He additionally engineered and designed high-voltage switchgears, substations, and transformers.
“Each energy plant has its personal interconnection rights however, amazingly, most are usually not absolutely using them.”
In 2015 he joined ExxonMobil in Houston, working as a venture supervisor. Throughout his six years there, he held managerial positions. Finally, he was promoted to asset advisor and was accountable for evaluating the feasibility of investing in decarbonization and electrification initiatives by figuring out their dangers and alternatives.
He determined he wished to be taught extra concerning the enterprise facets of working an organization, so he left in 2021 to pursue an MBA at Indiana College’s Kelley Faculty of Enterprise, in Bloomington. Throughout his MBA program, he briefly labored as a marketing consultant for a lithium-ion manufacturing agency, providing recommendation on the viability of their proposed initiatives and investments.
“Engineers aren’t usually related to the enterprise world,” he says, “however having an understanding of what the wants are and tailoring your future objectives towards that’s extraordinarily necessary. For my part, that’s the way you’ll turn into an important technical knowledgeable. I undoubtedly suggest that engineers have some type of understanding of the enterprise facet.”
He joined Center River shortly after graduating from Indiana along with his MBA in 2023.
The ability of membership
Kopzhanov was launched to IEEE by a colleague at ExxonMobil after he requested the member about an IEEE plaque displayed on his desk. The coworker defined the actions he was concerned in, in addition to the method for becoming a member of. Kopzhanov grew to become a member in 2019, left, after which rejoined in 2023.
“That was top-of-the-line selections I’ve made,” he says.
A member of the IEEE Energy & Power Society, he says its publications, webinars, conferences, and networking occasions hold him present on new developments.
“Having the ability to observe what’s taking place within the trade, particularly within the area the place you’re working, is one thing that has benefited me loads,” he says.
An energetic IEEE volunteer, he’s the founding chair of the Energy & Power Society’s Chicago chapter, which has about 400 members. He’s on the chapter’s govt committee, and he helps set up conferences, replace the web site, and evaluate analysis papers.
“It’s these little issues which have a big affect,” he says. “Volunteering is a key piece of belonging to IEEE.”
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