DONATED WIND TURBINE TO BOOST UD ENERGY RESEARCH
A donation of a wind turbine from a Tipp City company will boost research into the future of energy at the University of Dayton Research Institute’s (UDRI) new Energy Experience Center, UDRI said.
The 6 kW (kilowatt) turbine, valued at more than $25,000, has been donated by OGW Energy Resources of Tipp City. It will be installed in the center’s electric “micro-grid,” as a way to test emerging energy technologies, the university said.
Located at Curran Place, a halfacre fenced-in area formerly known as the university’s River Campus, the 25,000-square-foot center has wind turbines, solar panels, a portable generator, AC motor control centers and advanced batteries for energy storage.
The idea is to create a sort of proving ground for energy research.
“We envision the Energy Experience Center to eventually be a showcase of best-in-class technologies in energy generation, storage, controls, efficiency, cyber-security, monitoring and load management,” said Eric Lang, a senior research scientist in UDRI’s Energy Technologies and Materials division. “The generous donation by OGW will play an important role in helping us reach that goal.”
Micro-grids are small, self-contained energy storage and generation facilities designed to supply power to users nearby, Lang said. They can be connected to a major commercial grid, but they can also operate independently if the larger grid is compromised.
UDRI said its micro-grid is designed to generate its own power, and advanced batteries will collect and store extra energy produced by solar panels and wind turbines to provide DC power when sun and wind are scarce.
The center also features a dedicated connection to the local Dayton Power & Light commercial grid, which supplies electricity for tests requiring extra power. The center can also feed power back to the DP&L grid during times of plentiful power, the university said.
In the future, Lang predicted, more power will be produced and stored in micro-grids close to the site of consumption, and less from conventional power stations.
Micro-grids can strengthen national security, Lang said.
Today, our national grid is divided into three major zones, Lang said in an interview. Key nodes in that grid — if they were taken out — could compromise the entire grid, he said. A micro-grid can continue operating even if the main grid is weakened or cut off.
Micro-grids in that situation could power hospitals, universities and defense installations, for example, even if the main grid were down or damaged.
“People are starting to have more and more micro-grids for those reasons,” Lang said.
OGW has strong ties to UD, an executive said.
“Because of our deep roots in the community and with UD, this donation is special because one of our partners is an alumnus, and another has three children who are currently attending or alumni,” OGW President Ray Davis said. Contact this reporter at 937-2252390 or email tom.gnau@coxinc. com.