The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has granted the University of Central Florida a $3.2 million award to aid in the development of renewable energy.
According to a press release from North American Windpower, UCF will lead one of four national consortia, which will develop distributed technologies to help increase engineering capacity and prepare for a national shift from traditional sources of electricity to renewables, such as solar and wind.
The award, given to UCF’s winning proposal — Foundations for Engineering Education for Distributed Energy Resources (FEEDER) — is a part of a broader DOE investment of $12 million to increase the nation’s capacity to support distributed energy technologies.
According to North American Windpower, the FEEDER center will bring together seven universities (Auburn University, Florida State University, University of Arkansas, UCF, University of Florida, University of Kentucky and University of South Carolina), eight utility companies (including Duke Energy, Florida Power & Light, Southern Co., and Orlando Utility Commission), two national laboratories (National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory) and eight industry partners (including Siemens, SAIC, LEIDOS and Schneider) to speed up the development of technologies needed to prepare the nation’s electric grid to operate on renewable energy sources.
The university adds that the FEEDER center will also focus on education by establishing a cross-institutional smart grid curriculum; facilitating research collaborations among the academic, utility and industrial partners; and incorporating the latest and most relevant research findings into new educational materials and courseware.
“This multi-university collaborative effort demonstrates our institutional commitment of being one of America’s leading partnership university,” said Michael Geogiopoulos, dean of the College of Engineering & Computer Science.
