In the wake of increasingly frequent extreme weather events, the University of Connecticut (UConn) and its partners are spearheading efforts to bolster the resilience of the northeastern power grid. Collaborating with the University at Albany and other key players in outage prediction and meteorology, UConn has secured significant support from the federal Department of Energy (DOE) in the form of two grants totaling $2.63 million.
Emmanouil Anagnostou, Interim Director of the UConn Tech Park and Director of the Eversource Energy Center, emphasized the urgent need for grid resilience in the face of escalating natural hazards in the Northeast. He highlighted the region’s vulnerability to hurricanes, Nor’easters, winter storms, heat waves, precipitation, and drought, underscoring the critical importance of enhancing power grid resilience to mitigate these risks.
Chris Thorncroft, director of UAlbany’s Atmospheric Sciences Research Center and Center of Excellence in Weather & Climate Analytics, expressed enthusiasm for the collaboration with UConn and other stakeholders. He emphasized the role of cutting-edge research and technology in bolstering energy industry efficiency and reliability amidst a rapidly changing climate and a global shift towards clean energy sources.
The DOE’s Grid Resilience Analysis and Climate Change Impacts (GRACI) funding program, which allocated $4.6 million nationwide, reflects a concerted effort to address regional climate change threats and enhance grid resiliency. Maria Robinson, Director of the Grid Deployment Office at the U.S. Department of Energy, stressed the importance of tailoring solutions to address the varied challenges faced by different geographic regions and ensuring optimal community benefits.
Through two projects funded for the Northeast, UConn and the Eversource Energy Center will play pivotal roles in advancing grid resilience. The first project, “Community co-design of Resilient Energy Solution Technology,” will see UConn and UAlbany collaborating to provide risk assessments and investment guidance to states in the region. UAlbany will leverage numerical prediction models to identify trends in climate hazards, while UConn will utilize its outage prediction model to inform grid resilience assessments.
In the second project, “Wind Impact Study for Power Resilience (WISPR),” UConn, UAlbany, Cornell, and Pointerra3D will work together to enhance grid resilience through investments in Eversource, Avangrid, and National Grid service territories. By deploying advanced technologies such as light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and integrating future climate change projections, the project aims to optimize grid resilience strategies and reduce electricity costs.
Zongjie Wang, UConn’s primary investigator for the WISPR project, highlighted the university’s leading role in electric grid research and emphasized the collaborative efforts with key partners to ensure the initiative’s success and scalability across North America. The project’s headquarters at UConn will provide research opportunities for postdoctoral positions and Ph.D. candidates, further solidifying the university’s commitment to advancing grid resilience.
As UConn continues to drive innovation in electric grid resilience, the comprehensive cost-benefit analysis and advanced econometric models employed in these projects are poised to optimize resilience improvement strategies. Pamir Alpay, UConn’s Vice President for Research, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship, underscored the projects’ potential to not only reduce electricity costs but also enhance grid reliability, positioning UConn as a frontrunner in advancing electric grid resilience.
The success of these initiatives is expected to yield valuable insights for the DOE to strengthen the national electric grid infrastructure. By setting a precedent for a more secure and efficient power infrastructure, these projects have the potential to benefit not only Connecticut but the entire country. Through collaborative efforts and innovative solutions, UConn and its partners are paving the way for a more resilient energy future.
In the search results, there is an article from UConn Today about a partnership to improve grid resistance. The article discusses how the University of Connecticut is working with partners to improve the energy grid’s resilience and reliability. This partnership aims to enhance the power grid’s ability to withstand and quickly recover from disruptions, such as severe weather events or cyber attacks. The project is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and will involve research, testing, and implementation of new technologies to strengthen the power grid. Overall, the goal is to ensure a more secure and stable energy system for the future.