FSU Joins Coalition Working to Improve Nation’s Power Grid

CAPs is now a member of the GridWise Alliance, a group of 69 leading companies and academic institutions whose goal is to combine their knowledge and innovation in an effort to increase the safety, reliability and capacity of the U.S. power grid.

“CAPS looks forward to contributing to this important effort to achieve a more resilient, reliable and secure power system,” said Steinar Dale, director of the center.

Founded in 2003, the GridWise Alliance (http://www.gridwise.com) advocates a vision of an electric system that integrates the infrastructure, processes, devices, information and market structure so that energy can be generated, distributed and consumed more efficiently and cost-effectively. Its members include utilities, IT companies, equipment vendors, new technology providers and educational institutions.

According to Dale, “FSU CAPS’ resources will support the GridWise Alliance by helping to develop, analyze, demonstrate and ‘de-risk’ new technology and new approaches to power delivery.”

In addition to CAPS, members of the GridWise Alliance include ABB, Accenture, Aegis Technologies, Alcatel-Lucent, the Ambient Corporation, American Electric Power, Arcadian Networks, AREVA-T&D, Austin Energy, Autodesk, BC Hydro, Beacon Power Corp., the British Columbia Institute of Technology, Cellnet+Hunt, CenterPoint Energy, Cisco, CMEA Ventures, the Computer Sciences Corporation, Con Edison, Constellation Energy, Consumers Energy Company, Cooper Power Systems, Current, Duke Energy, Eka Systems, Electricite de France, Elster Integrated Solutions, Energy Insights, EnergySolve, the EnerNex Corporation, Environmental System Research Institute, GE, GridPoint Inc., Hewlett-Packard, IBM, the Institute of Electric Power Engineering, Itron,

KEMA Consulting, Lockheed Martin, MainNet Communications, the Microsoft Corporation, Midwest ISO, Milsoft Utility Solutions, National Grid, Open Systems International, Optimal Technologies International, Progress Energy, Public Service Electric and Gas Company, PJM Interconnection, RockPort Capital Partners, RuggedCom, SAIC, SAP, Sempra Energy, SensorTran Inc., the Serveron Corporation, Siemens Power Transmission & Distribution, Site Controls, SmartSynch, Solar Integrated Technologies, Telvent, Tendril Networks, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Tollgrade Communications, the Utilities Telecom Council, VELCO, Washington State University and ZIV USA Inc.

“These companies and academic institutions strengthen the coalition and broaden our impact by bringing their knowledge and innovation to our efforts to transform the electricity grid,” said Guido Bartels, chairman of the alliance and general manager of IBM’s Global Energy and Utilities Industry. He added that “the diversity of the GridWise Alliance continues to grow, further demonstrating that the development of a smart grid is a truly collaborative effort.”

GridWise Alliance members are gathering at GridWeek 2008, being held this week in Washington, D.C. This annual meeting examines smart grid successes, their role in carbon reduction, alternative distributed generation, and implementation of the Energy Act of 2007. For more information on GridWeek 2008, visit http://www.gridweek.com.

The Center for Advanced Power Systems (http://www.caps.fsu.edu) was founded in 2001 under a grant from the Office of Naval Research to undertake research for the Navy’s All-Electric Ship Program. The center became the leader of a multi-university consortium in this research field with a budget of $52 million over five years. With support from the Office of Naval Research and the Department of Energy, the center has built up a unique test and simulation facility, which combines the largest real-time digital power-system simulator in North America with a 5-megawatt-capacity test bed. This facility allows real components and systems to be interfaced to a larger system being run on the simulator so that the component is tested in a realistic high-fidelity representation of its application environment rather than in isolation.