Research, Funding, and Awards

  • Today: Eversource Energy Faculty Forum

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    Eversource Energy Center Faculty Forum: May 19, 2016

    Dear UConn Faculty,

     

    The Eversource Energy Center will host a faculty forum focused on potential research collaborations with the Center on Thursday, May 19, 2016 from 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM (location: School of Business Boardroom). The Eversource Energy Center is a utility-academic partnership between the University of Connecticut and Eversource Energy, and was established in October 2015. The Center seeks to engage the multi-disciplinary expertise within the university to further the resilience of the power grid under the topics of:

    -          Understanding the social and economic cost/benefit of Eversource’s on-going $300M resiliency program

    -          Distributed generation (renewable generation, energy storage and microgrids)

    -          Cyber and physical security

    -          Data and Technology Needs (vegetation management, infrastructure, LiDAR and remote sensing technologies)

    We aim to fund six, one year proof-of-concept projects ($100-200K) during Fall 2016 – Dec 2017, and select projects will have the opportunity to continue to multi-year projects upon completion.

    This event will feature presentations by faculty and Eversource Energy employees who are engaged in current research projects under the umbrella of storm damage forecasting, tree and forest management, electric grid hardening and infrastructure security.

    For more information, please contact Dr. Dave Wanik (dave.wanik@uconn.edu), Center Manager; Dr. Emmanouil Anagnostou (manos@engr.uconn.edu), Director; or, Dr. John Volin (john.volin@uconn.edu), Associate Director.

    Tentative Agenda

     

    -          9:00 – 9:30AM

    • Short statement about the Center and welcome from UConn and Eversource leadership

    -          9:30-10:30 AM

    • Introduction of the Center, overview of existing projects, and announcement of the upcoming call for proposals
    • Talks from Eversource on the new topic areas:
      • Understanding the social and economic cost/benefit of resilience programs (tree trimming, grid hardening)
      • Distributed generation and renewables
      • Infrastructure security: cyber-security and flood vulnerability
      • Data and technology needs (vegetation management, infrastructure, LiDAR, expansion to other utilities)

    -          10:30-10:45 AM: Break

    -          10:45-12:00 PM: Presentations by UConn faculty

    • Damage prediction modeling and grid resilience
    • LiDAR technologies
    • Anti-islanding and integrating renewables
    • Social science implications of resilience projects
    • Tree biomechanics

    -          Noon-1:00 PM:

    • Break for lunch (not provided – Union Street Market available)

    -          1:00-3:00 PM:

    • Expectations and details of the call for proposals
    • Roundtable discussion with Eversource and UConn leads
    For more information, contact: Dave Wanik at dave.wanik@uconn.edu