NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering has announced a collaboration with the New York Power Authority (NYPA) to bolster the reliability of the city's power grid. This initiative, backed by a $190,000 grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), aims to develop innovative techniques to reduce power outages.
The focus of the collaboration is the development of a tool that could potentially prevent energy outages in New York City. This tool is designed to detect problems in large power transformers, crucial components responsible for transferring energy from the city’s power lines to utilities and buildings.
By minimizing the need to shut down transformers for functionality tests, the tool seeks to significantly reduce power outages in the city. It is estimated that this could save the NYPA approximately $15,000 per day and prevent transformer failures, which can lead to public safety hazards and lengthy repair times.
Francisco de Leon, a professor at Tandon School of Engineering leading the initiative, emphasized the potential impact of the project, stating, "This tool can save NYPA over a million dollars per year by preventing transformer failures." The collaboration marks the beginning of an innovative journey aimed at enhancing the resilience of New York City's power grid.
With the NYPA overseeing a vast network of generating facilities and transmission lines, the project holds significant promise in ensuring a more reliable power supply for the city. Initial research will involve creating a prototype and conducting simulations to investigate energy distributions and storage systems within New York City’s transmission grid.
Source: nyunews.com