With a $1.23 million grant, Rensselaer researchers will be creating a distributed power “test-bed” to study how the electricity distribution grid might be affected by the widespread adoption of clean, renewable energy sources. The two-year project, which is funded by the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR), is designed to help understand the potential effects of meeting New York state’s key alternative energy goal — by 2012, more than 25 percent of power generation through renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and fuel cells. 

	(L-R) President Shirley Ann Jackson with Acting Vice President of Research Wolf von Maltzahn, CFES Director Nag Patibandla, and Dean of Engineering Alan Cramb.	(L-R) President Jackson, Nag Patibandla, and NYSTAR Executive Director Michael J. Relyea. Photos by Rensselaer/Kris Qua

NYSTAR Executive Director Michael J. Relyea presented President Shirley Ann Jackson and members of the research team with the $1.23 million award Nov. 8 at an energy forum in Colonie, N.Y., hosted by Rensselaer’s Center for Future Energy Systems (CFES). 

As people begin adopting small-scale renewable sources to power homes and businesses, problems in the utility grid could arise because these sources are likely to be connected at the local distribution level. “For example, I do not want my photovoltaic system’s inverter to go off when my neighbor’s central air conditioner comes on,” said CFES Director Nag Patibandla. “We want to understand how the distribution grid functions at a high degree of renewable resources penetration.”

Patibandla led New York’s Distributed Generation program for five years before joining Rensselaer. For the new project, he and his colleagues plan to build a test system on the Rensselaer campus where they can attach a number of simulated renewable energy sources along with equipment that is susceptible to fluctuations in power output.

Examples of sensitive loads include high-power computer systems, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in traffic lights, and wastewater treatment plants. Renewable energy sources are themselves inherently sensitive because they have inverters that convert direct current to alternating current, Patibandla said. 

Researchers at the CFES will be partnering with Sensitron Semiconductor of Deer Park, N.Y.; Inverters Unlimited Inc. of Albany, N.Y.; and Advanced Energy Conversion of Malta, N.Y. The project also will examine policy aspects of renewable resources penetration in partnership with the Pace Energy Project, part of Pace Law School’s Center for Environmental Legal Studies.

The award is being made through NYSTAR’s Centers for Advanced Technology Development Program, which seeks to enhance and expand the capabilities of existing Centers for Advanced Technology that have achieved a record of success. 

In addition to Patibandla, two Rensselaer researchers will be co-principal investigators: Jian Sun, associate professor of electrical, computer, and systems engineering; and Nadarajah Narendran, director of research at Rensselaer’s Lighting Research Center. The project also will support six Rensselaer graduate students.

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Published November 13, 2006