NYPA's R+D Team Wins U.S. Department of Energy Grant for Hydropower AI Work

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) (DOE) just announced investments for multiple research and development projects across the United States, planned to increase hydropower's ability to respond to changing demand on the electric grid.?

Part of this announcement includes a $750,000 grant to NYPA for its R+D Project entitled "Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Optimization of Flexible Hydropower Operations for Enhancing Grid Resilience and Sustainability."?

The authority will share the funds with its project partners: Duke Energy Corporation , the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and 美国普渡大学 .?

Alan Ettlinger , Senior Director Research, Technology Development + Innovation, commented, "The increase in intermittent grid resources such as wind and solar has led to a shift in the operation of our hydroelectric plants. Originally designed for baseload generation - continuously operating without changing the power output, their output now varies across a wide range (flexible operation) to accommodate the intermittency of renewables."

He continued, "This results in additional wear and tear on plant equipment. The use of artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques to optimize operations and increase flexibility of our hydropower facilities will alleviate the degradation of our plants and ensure continued grid reliability."

Congratulations to Alan and his entire team for this noteworthy award!

Additional information on this story can be found at U.S. Department of Energy or HydroReview.