Doctoral student Srijana Shrestha attended the CERAWeek Conference hosted by S&P Global in Houston, Texas U.S. on the 10th to 14th of March 2025. She was selected along with three OU graduate students to represent the next generation of innovators in energy engineering.
Experience: “CERAWeek Conference is the biggest conference in the energy sector where business executives, industries, researchers and policy makers meet and share ideas about the future of energy. This year, I had the privilege of participating and connecting with professionals from around the world. It was an incredible experience to witness how AI is already making a significant impact in the energy industry, and I also enjoyed sharing insights from my own research during the poster session.”
Abstract: With the increasing integration of intermittent energy sources on the electric grid, the demand for power system flexibility services has grown significantly to maintain a real-time balance between power supply and demand. This research explores the impact of flexibility services provided by motorized thermal energy storage on the lifespan of electric motors integrated into heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems that form a motorized storage system. However, the speed modulation or duty cycling required by flexibility services raises concerns about the lifespan-reducing accelerated aging of electric motors, potentially affecting equipment reliability and cost-effectiveness. This study examines the effects of aging under dynamic and distorted operating conditions caused by speed modulation to inform an aging-aware control strategy that balances the effects of aging and the financial gain from flexibility services.
