UNM Key Part of Microgrid Collaboration

Andrea Mam­moli, direc­tor, CEET

UNM Mechan­i­cal Engi­neer­ing Asso­ciate Pro­fes­sor Andrea Mam­moli is lead­ing a team in a series of research projects involv­ing renew­able energy. The UNM School of Engi­neer­ing Cen­ter for Emerg­ing Energy Tech­nolo­gies (CEET) is col­lab­o­rating with the Pub­lic Ser­vice Com­pany of New Mex­ico to inte­grate a micro­grid with PNM’s dis­tri­b­u­tion sys­tems at Mesa del Sol.

Mam­moli says there are sev­eral spe­cific research projects involv­ing col­lab­o­ra­tors within the uni­ver­sity and with other enti­ties.  At UNM, fac­ulty mem­bers who are involved include Olga Lavrova, assis­tant pro­fes­sor, Com­puter Engi­neer­ing Tom Caudell, pro­fes­sor, Elec­tri­cal and Com­puter Engi­neer­ing, and Francesco Sorrentino,assistant pro­fes­sor, Mechan­i­cal Engineering.

In this video, he dis­cusses the UNM projects.

The research will be done in part at Aper­ture Cen­ter at Mesa del Sol where UNM, PNM, Mesa del Sol and San­dia National Labs are involved in a new col­lab­o­ra­tion aimed at mak­ing renew­able energy a work­able real­ity that can be incor­po­rated into the nation’s elec­tri­cal grid.  UNM has office and lab space in the build­ing and will host a con­trol cen­ter oper­ated by The New Energy and Indus­trial Tech­nol­ogy and Devel­op­ment Orga­ni­za­tion (NEDO).  The con­trol cen­ter will oper­ate a micro­grid project.

The micro­grid will demon­strate the use of spe­cial­ized tech­nol­ogy in a com­mer­cial building. The pur­pose of the project is to assist the exist­ing elec­tri­cal power grid in inte­grat­ing large amounts of inter­mit­tent renew­able energy. The project will enable the Aper­ture Cen­ter to respond to demand/supply sig­nals from the main power grid and allow for com­pletely inde­pen­dent oper­a­tion in emer­gency situations.

Nine Japan­ese com­pa­nies who have sup­plied more than $22 mil­lion in com­po­nents of this inno­v­a­tive sys­tem will use the project to deter­mine how the sys­tem might work in a com­mer­cial envi­ron­ment. Par­tic­i­pants include Shimizu, Toshiba, Sharp, Mei­den­sha, Fuji Elec­tric Co., Tokyo Gas Co., Mit­subishi Heavy Indus­tries, Furukawa Elec­tric Co., and Furukawa Bat­tery Co.  The project is expected to last two years.

Media Con­tact: Karen Went­worth (505) 277‑5627; email: kwent2@unm.edu