31 January 2011

DOE’s $5.15m grant to fund SiC power device development

A new grant from the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) will support efforts by North Carolina State University (NCSU) to develop new technologies essential to the development of a 'smart grid' that can easily store and distribute energy from renewable sources, such as solar and wind.

The grant is for a total of $5.15m over three years, the bulk of which will go to Cree Inc of Durham, NC, USA, which is leading the initiative. Partners in the initiative include NCSU, high-power semiconductor manufacturers ABB Ltd of Zurich, Switzerland and Powerex Inc of Youngwood, PA, USA. NCSU will receive $750,000 over the duration of the grant.

NCSU’s role is to develop a transformerless intelligent power substation (TIPS), says Dr Subhashish Bhattacharya, an assistant professor of electrical & computer engineering and primary investigator for NCSU on the project. “TIPS will enable the vision of the smart grid,” he adds. “It will be a more cost-effective and efficient means of connecting renewable energy resources to the existing power infrastructure.”

Specifically, TIPS will enable the direct interconnection of renewable energy resources and energy storage systems to the grid with bi-directional power flow control, Bhattacharya explains. It will also provide energy management, and improve grid power quality and reliability through enhanced communication. Dr Alex Huang, professor of electrical and computer engineering, is a co-primary investigator on the NCSU component of the grant.

The NCSU TIPS development project will be made possible by Cree’s work under the grant to develop a power semiconductor device based on silicon carbide (SiC).

NCSU is home to the Engineering Research Center for Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery and Management (FREEDM) of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Headquartered on NCSU’s Centennial Campus, the FREEDM Systems Center is developing ways to speed renewable electric-energy technologies into every home and business.

Tags: Cree SiC power devices

Visit: www.cree.com

Visit: www.ece.ncsu.edu