Brett Kinlaw, Lumbee River EMC Supervisor of GIS, has been named to a National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) Industry Advisory Board (IAB). NRECA established the board to provide guidance and input for the Model-free Hosting Capacity Analysis (MoHCA) project.

The DOE Solar Energy Technology Office (SETO) has funded a new 3-year MoHCA project to develop a new Solar PV Hosting Capacity Analysis tool. The project will develop data-driven algorithms that calculate behind-the-meter PV Hosting Capacity using only Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) data. The results will facilitate PV interconnection requests allowing users to generate and update public-facing hosting capacity maps without using detailed grid models or time-consuming simulations. Members will benefit from a more streamlined process to interconnect solar to the grid, whether on a house or a large-scale solar site. Sandia National Labs are leading this project in collaboration with the NRECA and Georgia Tech.

Kinlaw is currently serving a 3-year term on NRECA’s Analytics Research Member Advisory Group, which works on issues in analytics, data management & software for utility decision making. NRECA recognized his expertise and appointed him to the MoHCA advisory board. The IAB will meet twice a year to share progress on the MoHCA project, ensuring the research effort develops into a usable product for cooperatives.

“The MoHCA project will help cooperatives better serve our members,” Kinlaw said. “More importantly, I look forward to representing Lumbee River EMC’s voice within the national conversation surrounding innovation and solar power.”