Power Center for Utility Explorations at USF has secured a prestigious Smart Grid project worth more than $15 Million. The effort competitively selected by the Florida Energy and Climate Commission from over 140 applicants, entitled, “Smart Grid with Renewable Strategic Load Pocket,” is a collaboration of funding from the Governors Energy Office, Progress Energy Florida, Publix, and HD supply. The Principal Investigator and Director of PCUE Alex Domijan states ‘this is a great win for our country and USF in particular, and showcases the strength of collaborations, the leadership of Progress Energy, and is one that we have been working on for many years to form flexible, reliable and intelligent electric energy delivery systems to benefit the public and nation.” John Masiello, the lead at Progress Energy, and Director of Demand Side Management and Alternative Energy Strategy, noted that, “this is a collaborative effort and is transformative.” The transformation to smart grids for our society in the power and energy sectors of our economy is similar to what the world-wide web did to bring about and revolutionize the information age as a whole. PCUE deputy director Arif Islam adds ‘this has catapulted our collaborative at USF in the league of other big players at the national level; addressing energy issues and the transformation of our grid network.’ The effort will allow USF and the collaborative to be major players globally in energy sustainability and the transformation of our power infrastructure; an infrastructure that is linked directly to infrastructures in water, transportation and communications, and will lead to more jobs, business development, and allow for increased renewable energy portfolios and energy efficiency.

The project will implement a “Smart Grid” on a portion of Progress Energy Florida's distribution system in St. Petersburg, Florida. The system will integrate the use of renewable distributed generation along with advanced sensors, communication and control technologies, and other technologies, along with two-way communication between the utility and electric loads within customer premises, to increase energy efficiency, reliability and security.

For further information please visit http://pcue.eng.usf.edu/