UCI receives solar grant

Clouds are like nature’s dimmer switch for sunlight, and in the case of California’s power grid, they could soon be the dimmer on how much electricity we generate unless the state makes some changes.

UC Irvine researchers call it intermittence, when cloud cover limits sunlight to solar power generators and lowers their electrical output.

As California residents turn ever more toward renewable energy like sunlight to provide electricity, the next problem facing electrical companies is how to prepare the grid for it.

Thanks to a $2-million grant, UCI researchers will use the campus as a guinea pig to try out several possibilities for the state electrical grid’s future.

“The [award] will focus on intermittency, meaning it will secure that the customer’s electrical power will be consistent and robust,” said Scott Samuelsen, director of UCI’s Advanced Power and Energy Program in the school of engineering, which was given the grant.

Using UCI as a “living laboratory,” for their experiments, Samuelsen and other scientists will create a road map that will find the cheapest, most efficient way to use renewable energies to power California, and possibly the nation in the years to come, he said.

The team will experiment with various energy producers, including solar and biofuels, to see what produces the most, is more consistent, and would work best on a power grid, he said. But using cheap, renewable energy on an aging power grid that would lose a majority of it traveling or by not storing it would be incomplete.

UCI’s team will also use the three-year grant to research ways to make energy grids more efficient, such as storing more energy in battery cells, Samuelsen said. Advances there would help balance the ebbs and flows of wind and solar energy by offsetting any dips in their output, he said.

UCI’s Advanced Power and Energy Program will not only look to Irvine but also the Orange County Great Park for a model. Irvine is a prime example of a built-up city that would have to change its infrastructure to new technology, while the park would be a blank canvas for researchers to see how to build a new grid from scratch, Samuelsen said.

The grant also funds research into making transportation cleaner, safer and more affordable, school officials said.

The National Fuel Cell Research Center, the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, and the Institute of Transportation Studies will join in the research. Half the grant came from the California Energy Commission and the other half was a matching-gift from Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. Inc., and CTG Energetics.