FAMU-FSU College of Engineering researchers will create solar technologies to enhance disaster resilience
From left, Yuan Li, an assistant professor of Electrical and Pc Engineering Eren Ozguven, associate professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering and Simon Foo, a professor of Electrical and Pc Engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. The trio have been operating on the project of studying modular photovoltaic power systems to assist restore energy immediately just after organic disasters. (Mark Wallheiser/FAMU-FSU College of Engineering)
A group of researchers from the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering is building a modular solar electrical energy program that can assist communities hold electrical energy flowing for the duration of organic disasters.
The operate is element of a U.S. Division of Power (DOE) initiative identified as the Renewables Advancing Neighborhood Power Resilience (RACER) plan, which aims to raise resilience to disasters by working with renewable power. DOE devoted $33 million to funding 20 study projects across the nation for study to assist communities strategy their transition to a clean power future and enhance grid reliability and safety. This project will acquire $three million in funding.
“Extreme climate can knock energy out for a couple of days, in particular if it damages critical components of electrical energy infrastructure,” stated Yuan Li, an assistant professor in the Division of Electrical and Pc Engineering who is top the project. “Our remedy is to create a program that duplicates that critical infrastructure as lots of submodules, so an electric program can hold operating even if element of it is compromised.”
Li and her group are building lightweight, compact inverters for solar energy plants. The inverters, which convert direct existing to alternating existing, assist regulate the flow of electrical energy from energy plants to the electric grid. They are little sufficient that a group of two individuals can set them up without having heavy gear, enabling solar energy plants to immediately restore electrical energy in the wake of disruptions, such as the hurricanes that batter Florida for the duration of the summer time.
This inverter will have identical modules that deal with various sections of a solar energy plant. If extreme climate damages element of the inverter, the remaining modules will continue functioning. The technologies also enables workers to replace the failed element when the rest of the inverter program is creating energy.
Along with fellow faculty members from the Division of Electrical and Pc Engineering, the group consists of researchers from the college’s Resilient Infrastructure and Disaster Response Center and Florida State University’s Center for Sophisticated Energy Systems. They also will operate with the City of Tallahassee, Florida, Northeastern University and the National Renewable Power Lab on the project.
“Building neighborhood resilience to deal with organic disasters is an interdisciplinary difficulty,” stated project member Simon Foo, a professor in the Division of Electrical and Pc Engineering. “Disaster impacts so lots of elements of a neighborhood, so our response to it requirements to take that into account.”
