UPDATED: Sept. 12, 2019 at 1:58 p.m.

A New York state energy research department launched a competition over the summer, attempting to improve energy distribution across the state.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority began its Future Grid Challenge in July. The program is part of a bigger push focused on converting the state’s electric grid to renewable energy, called Smart Grid. It’s meant to revitalize the state’s energy grid, which transfers electricity through the state.

“Our larger smart grid program is really designed to help advance the grid in ways that provide that clean, carbon free energy that New York is looking to have in the future,” said David Crudele, the authority’s Smart Grid program manager.

Smart Grid has been in effect since 2016 and has given approximately $25 million to grid technology companies and research organizations, according to a press release from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office. The Future Grid Challenge is an opportunity for the development authority to work together with electric utilities, Crudele said.

In the first round of funding, the Future Grid Challenge will support proposals with up to $6 million for the projects that partner with companies Con Edison and Orange & Rockland Utilities and up to $3 million available per utility challenge. The goal is to work to improve data analytics, build advanced forecasting, improve grid stability, reduce system losses and improve smart inverter functionality.

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Sara Eftekharnejad, an assistant professor at Syracuse University, said the funding was exciting to her as a faculty member because researchers are often looking for funding opportunities.

SU’s Sustainable Enterprise Partnership is a sustainability program that offers students research and education opportunities through four central New York institutions, according to its website.

The Future Grid Challenge will help New York state support its Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, passed in June, according to Cuomo’s office. The law requires that statewide greenhouse gas emissions drop 85% by 2050 and mandates a 70% drop in carbon emissions by 2030 and a clean or carbon-free electricity sector by 2040.

Today, nearly 23% of New York’s electric power is made up of renewable energy according to the Department of Environmental Conservation.

Todd Moss, an associate professor and director of SU’s Sustainable Enterprise Partnership, said reaching the “political will” to drop emissions is achievable — but the main issue will be keeping the solution bipartisan.

Crudele, the Smart Grid program manager, said the goal is achievable but won’t be easy.

“I don’t think it’s easily achievable, but most things worth doing aren’t,” he said. “But yes, it is definitely achievable.”

The first Future Grid Challenge proposals are due Oct. 9, and a second round of proposals will be accepted later in the year.

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, details of the law mandating a clean or carbon-free electricity sector by 2040 were misstated. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on September 11, 2019 at 10:13 pm

Contact Ashley: aeclemen@syr.edu