Dr. David Simakov
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering
(Renewal)

Smart Grid Load Balancing & Energy Storage by Power-to-Gas via Methanation 

One of the main challenges in large scale utilization of renewable solar and wind energy sources is their unreliable nature. Transient fluctuations in solar and wind power supply  result in significant grid load variations that can even lead to power blackouts. Smart Grid energy transmission and storage can compensate for these fluctuations allowing accommodation of larger renewable resources in a reliable manner.

The goal of this project is to develop a highly efficient methanation system which can be easily and effectively integrated into the Power-to-Gas system while using wind and sun as sources of renewable energy for H2 generation(by electrolysis) and biogas and landfill gas as sources of carbon (CO2 sequestrated from power plants can be utilized as well).

Dr. Armaghan Salehian
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering

Energy Harvesting for Sensors in Smart Grids

A key part of the North American and Euorpean plan for a clean energy future is the development of smart grid technology and a modern electricity system using more advanced monitoring, communication and control technologies to build more flexible, reliable and efficient electricity systems. This has led to an increased interest in exploring new technologies for real-time monitoring and active management of electrical demand in the grid distributed over large geographic regions.

Dr. Salehian and her team seek to provide a self-contained, innovative and economic single chip solution for smart grid monitoring. Their MEMS-based technology will monitor the grid using features such as: two-way communication with self-healing network topology, and an energy harvesting device that allows a self-powered, maintenance free sensor - with a design 50 times smaller than any existing device already on the market.