INCOSE NE Membership July 2022 Monthly Meeting: WebEx

Agenda: 

6:00-6:45 PM: Introductions of Attendees and Chapter Business

6:45-7:30 PM: Invited Speaker

7:30-7:45 PM: Q&A and Open Discussion

Invited Speaker:

Dr. Bao Truong, Technical Lead for the Strategic Initiatives team at Malta Inc.

Title: 

Use of Systems Engineering in Repurposing Coal-Fired Power Plants with Malta Pumped Thermal Energy Storage System

Abstract:  

The electric sector across North America is facing a transition. Both economics and policy decisions have pointed towards a broad retirement of fossil assets across markets. Owners are facing the problem of how to evolve the base of the electric sector from fossil assets to greener alternatives. This three-part presentation provides a summary of a DOE funded study on how to integrate a Malta 100MW PTES system with a retiring coal-fired power plant to meet emissions requirements, retain plant workforces, preserve communities, and maintain grid reliability and flexibility.

The presentation will first discuss how systems engineering was applied for this work. Discussion on the decisions on how much breadth and depth to go into different areas of systems engineering, such as stakeholder engagement, developing requirements, use cases, etc. will be provided. The second part of the presentation will provide a deeper dive into the diffefferent integration options to repurpose coal-fired power plants with the Malta PHES system and their relative comparisons. The final part of the presentation will discuss the impact that this work has had, including Malta Inc. being invited to the White House to discuss progress and outcomes of this work.

Bio: 

Dr. Bao Truong is currently the Technical Lead for the Strategic Initiatives team at Malta Inc., where he leads the identification and development of new product concepts and their techno-economic evaluation. He has more than a decade of experience in applying systems engineering for the development of advanced energy systems, from advanced nuclear reactors to energy storage systems. Prior to joining Malta, he worked at TerraPower, an advanced nuclear energy startup. His work there spanned many aspects of systems engineering, including requirements development, integrated system analysis, testing, safety analysis, engineering processes, verification & validation, training and mentoring, and product development. He spearheaded the application of formal systems engineering to the development of advanced nuclear reactors, managed the Design Integration group, and served as the company’s go-to expert on systems engineering.He holds a PhD in Nuclear Science and Engineering from MIT, and he is an INCOSE CSEP.