New partnership supports smart grid research
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April 18, 2013 | Three Across
New partnership supports smart grid research
Prof. Andre Ivanov (ECE), Fred Kaiser (Alpha), Brent Perry (Corvus), Prof. Stephen Toope (UBC President), and Pierre Ouillet (UBC VP Finance)
A new partnership between the University of British Columbia, Alpha Technologies Ltd., and Corvus Energy has brought a new prototype smart grid to the University campus. Research and data generated by the project will help demonstrate and evaluate scalable clean-energy solutions for cities and communities. Researchers from Alpha, Corvus, and UBC will work together to develop the system’s automated control software and study its capacity to provide backup for critical energy, with the goal of integrating into the University’s power grid.
"This project began with UBC’s quest for emergency back up power for the Bioenergy Research and Demonstration Facility, to allow controlled shut down of the facility in the event of a grid-wide power failure." explains Prof. Ivanov, Head of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. "The new Alpha/Corvus energy storage node is designed to harness power and to store it for times of peak demand or emergency backup for the facility. A second node is in the National Centre of Excellence Building. This one will store and distribute power to mass spectrometers -- instruments which are vital for research into a variety of areas, including medicine, biology and astronomy to name just a few. The third node is installed in the Fred Kaiser building. With this node ECE faculty and students will get to “play” with their partners from Corvus and Alpha, to further develop this technology to take it to new levels of performance."
The new research equipment has been installed in the Alpha Technologies Power Laboratory. This equipment will be invaluable to researchers and students working in the Electric Power and Energy Systems Group in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering enabling novel teaching, learning and research activities. “The new energy system at UBC offers unique capabilities to accelerate research on energy efficiency, smart grid, and the integration of renewable power. Our campus as a living lab combines the expertise of UBC researchers and industry leaders to develop and test technologies that will address critical gaps in the renewable power sector,” said Dr. Martin Ordonez, Canada Research Chair - Power Converters for Renewable Energy Systems. “This new infrastructure is an exceptional research test bed to produce and validate experimental results on smart grid and the integration of battery technologies with solar, wind, and fuel cell power.”
“This Micro Smart Grid project represents a bold step forward that serves as a blueprint for future smart grid implementation for Corvus, UBC, and Alpha,” said Corvus Energy's CEO, Brent Perry. “It will accelerate the realization that the ‘utility of the future’ safely delivers reliable, efficient, CO2-free energy storage solutions that not only reduce costs, but also preserve our planet's resources."
Find out more:
Vancouver campus deploys new $5.1M 'smart grid' energy storage sytem
