Innovation on Electric Grid Reliability and Power Quality
Dr. Sukumar Kamalasadan, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Distinguished Scholar of the College of Engineering, won a 2024 NC Innovation Award for his project “Grid Ancillary Services with Uninterruptible Power Supply (GAUPS)”. Funded by a $500 million state budget, NCInnovation (NCI) supports innovative researchers from North Carolina’s public universities that have been proven to have commercial promise. Dr. Kamalasadan’s grant focuses on developing his patented product to improve electric grid reliability and power quality simultaneously. His work will address situations where prolonged power outages could cause economic, health, environmental or public safety problems.
Dr. Kamalasadan is the director of the Power Energy Intelligent Systems Laboratory (PEISL) and has secured more than $13 million with his direct supervision from the U.S. Department of Energy, NSF, Siemens Research, Duke Energy Corp., Schweitzer Engineering Lab, and several other industries. More than twenty partners from academia, industry, and federal agencies are working with him to solve sustainable electric grid modernization challenges, especially with the integration of inverter-based Resources (IBRs). His work is particularly noteworthy for its potential impact on sustainable energy solutions. By leveraging cutting-edge technologies and interdisciplinary approaches, he seeks to address critical challenges in the energy sector, including the integration of intermittent renewable sources and improving grid resilience.
The NC Innovation Pilot Grant will support his research efforts, providing crucial funding to advance his groundbreaking work and contribute to the broader goal of creating more sustainable and efficient energy systems. Dr. Kamalasadan was featured on Spectrum News to explain how the grant funding is being utilized in his research. Dr. Kamalasadan was recently interviewed in WBTV News, featuring the research on the optimum integration of renewable energy into the power grid for improving reliability and power quality. For additional details of his research please click here.