Stony Brook researchers, in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts Lowell, will be investigating ways to make energy generation, storage and system operation more efficient, reliable and resilient, particularly in microgrid settings such as shore-based environments, under a new program funded by the United States Navy Office of Naval Research. The Navy grant, totaling $7.36 million and shared equally between the two institutions, will run through Fall 2022.
Each institution will conduct nine multidisciplinary projects to achieve the research goals, complementing each other’s efforts in areas including grid control, security and infrastructure monitoring; energy storage, materials and grid management; and zero-carbon fuels. Both will collaborate to develop new training approaches, an area in which the domain knowledge and experience of National Grid and the Long Island Power Authority will be valuable assets.
“Efficient energy is vital to the security and economic stability of our region and nation. Stony Brook University will continue to play an important role in advancing energy research innovation for our society,” said Stony Brook University President Maurie McInnis. “We are thrilled to partner with the University of Massachusetts Lowell and industry in this initiative — to together discover new ways to ensure energy resiliency for the future.”
Stony Brook’s two New York State Centers of Excellence — the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center (AEC) and the Center of Excellence for Wireless and Information Technology (CEWIT) — will assist University researchers involved in the program. Both Centers of Excellence are funded through the Empire State Development’s Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR), which fosters industry R&D collaboration to promote economic growth. Utility and industry connections are also a key external resource.
Essential partners in the collaborative project include the DOE Office of Science-funded Energy Frontier Research Center for Mesoscale Transport Properties (m2m) and the New York State Center for Advanced Technology in Integrated Electric Energy Systems (CIEES) — both located in the AEC. CIEES industry partners Bren-Tronics (Commack, NY) and Ioxus (Oneonta, NY) and AEC incubator tenant StorEn will contribute storage hardware and expertise to the initiative.
“This research program comes as the energy industry is experiencing greater technological change than at any time in the last century,” said Yacov Shamash, Principal Investigator and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Stony Brook University. “That’s why the Stony Brook and UMass Lowell projects leverage deep energy research experience with academic knowledge and long-time institutional collaborations with utilities in their states.”