Electric Grid Projects
Navy Research Collaboration on Robust Energy Infrastructure and Resiliency
Enhancing the Navy’s energy infrastructure to become more robust and resilient — able to prevent, withstand, respond to, and recover rapidly from disruptions, to preserve critical mission readiness and essential support capability — has become a higher strategic priority as climate change accelerates, cybersecurity threats increase, and cleantech offers new innovative solutions. The complexity of energy delivery systems does not lend itself to simple solutions and requires detailed analysis and new understanding of operating data, leading to innovative solutions that can deal with a rapidly changing operating environment. This project stems from prior ONR work by the principal partners, Stony Brook University and the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and is motivated by Presidential, DOD and DON strategy guidance. To ensure a close alignment with market realities, the two universities are also partnering with major Northeastern utilities and companies serving the energy industry.
Principle Investigator - Dr. Yacov Shamash
Sponsor - US Navy Office of Naval Research
Comparative Study & Networked Benchmarking of Power Electronics Architectures for HVDC OSW Energy Integration
This proposed project aims to conduct (1) a systematic comparative study of different HVDC architectures, (2) develop an extended bandwidth model for coupled HVDC system simulation, and (3) perform OSW HVDC benchmarking in software and HIL platforms. The research team will also leverage its existing efforts to explore cross-platform networked simulation/research concepts for OSW research integration.
In addition to the technical tasks, the research team will also conduct a marketing study report focused on the Long Island, New York City downstate region for the HVDC technology competitiveness including market size and value, the current IP landscape, opportunities for NY businesses, technology providers and competition strategy options.
Principle Investigator - Fang Luo
Sponsor - Sunrise Wind LLC
Meshed Offshore Grid and Resilience-Enabling HVDC Transmission for Ultra-Scale Offshore Wind Integration in New York Grids
To tackle the unprecedented challenges due to ultra-scale offshore wind integration, this project focuses on the development of high voltage direct current (HVDC) offshore grid technologies to enable resilient and secure renewable pathways in New York and neighboring regions. The overarching goal is to relieve congestions in transmission corridors and mitigate various security constraints that could block wind power from being delivered to load centers. To this end, our team will (1) establish resilience-enabling, grid-forming controls in HVDC offshore grids; (2) enable mesh-ready and meshed HVDC offshore networks for provably flexible and resilient offshore wind generation and delivery; and (3) leverage hydrogen integration to further eliminate bottlenecks and strengthen the weak grids via offshore wind energy hubs.
Principle Investigator - Dr. Peng Zhang
Sponsor - Sunrise Wind LLC
NSF Convergence Accelerator–Track D: AI-Grid: AI-Enabled, Provably Resilient, Programmable Networked Microgrids (Phase II)
This project is directed to the development of coordinated networked microgrids (NMs) that promise to significantly enhance power grid reliability. The project collaborates with industry partners, RLC Engineering, PLLC, Commonwealth Edison Company, and the Epic Institute. Three main challenges prevent the wide adoption of NMs: 1) lack of understanding of NM dynamics; 2) big data but limited/unscalable analytics; 3) cyber-infrastructure bottlenecks.
Principle Investigator - Dr. Peng Zhang
Sponsor - National Science Foundation
Enabling Self-Protecting, Ultra-Cyber-Physical-Resilient Microgrids
This project addressed the problems of cyber-physical microgrid resilience issues due to cyberattacks, delays, congestions, failures, and frequent functional/structural changes that can catastrophically plague the functionality of a microgrids’ cyber and physical networks.
Principle Investigator - Dr. Peng Zhang
Sponsor - US Navy Office of Naval Research
Transitioning to Ultra-Resilient Microgrids through AI, Advanced Control and High-Speed Sensors
This project will address various resilience needs and the safety and security of AI-driven operations and verify the proposed microgrid platform’s replicability and universality at Navy’s microgrids, ComEd’s Bronzeville microgrid and possibly others.
Principle Investigator - Dr. Peng Zhang
Sponsor - US Navy Office of Naval Research