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| The Navy Yard in Philadelphia |
Pennsylvania State University, partnered with Drexel University and Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, received a $700,000 grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to pursue commercially viable distributed power management at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Penn State has begun a 2-year project that reaches out to corporations in the area to focus the Navy Yard as a center for distributed power production and management.
Distributed power management means using locally produced alternative energy such as solar panels to generate and store power for a specific area called a micro grid. This power can be used by homes or businesses during peak hours, kept in a storage device or sold back into the grid. The net effect of this distributed power management is flattening the peak demand for energy and reducing the cost because less energy needs to be produced by the power plant. When distributed power management is used in many areas, the total load on the power plant is lessened, and the cost of energy is lowered.
Penn State’s vision is to put the Philadelphia Navy Yard on this plan, a distributed power management plan, and to establish a center for distributed power onsite at the Navy Yard. One goal is to work with the in-place team to develop a regional industry cluster around distributed power production and management. The other goal is to develop a distributed power production and management research/education program that addresses industry and government needs to pursue the development of selected commercially viable power management products. Penn State and Drexel will be working with Ben Franklin Technology Partners to bring them to market. Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center and Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania are partners in this proposal. |
