NSF Award
1430911
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the development of a cornerstone for reliable electricity and a modernized grid able to evolve alongside emerging customer demands. Reliable electricity is key component of an industrialized market, critical for the information age, and an enabler for non-industrialized regions evolution and eventual world economic contribution. The societal benefit therefore of GridBridge's commercially feasible Grid Energy Router is colossal, as it is the step-function change required to truly orchestrate a grid to match this era. This project will enable numerous hindered technologies and scientific understanding related to energy storage, photovoltaic and other renewable generation, as well as electric vehicles and their correlated fast chargers. Energy savings are also a monumental aspect and are expected to be in the trillions of dollars. Society needs electricity to maintain civilization and an updated grid is imperative for supplying that electricity to an evolved consumer base. GridBridge?s Grid Energy Router will be the crucial component for the modernized grid an enabler for numerous complementary technologies. GridBridge's GER will eventually replace millions of installed legacy grid technologies throughout the world. Furthermore, the continued GridBridge-ERC relationship establishes FREEDM ERC's commercialization ecosystem, which includes 200 diverse students.<br/><br/>This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 project combines various research aspects to commercialize the company?s third breakthrough product for electric utilities, the Grid Energy Router (GER). GridBridge?s Grid Energy Router will be cornerstone for an evolved grid that can integrate renewables and storage, offer dynamic efficiency gains, and intelligently route power. Although there has been early work with power electronics merely focusing in the area of high-voltage conversion, the approaches thus far limit commercialization and manufacturability. GridBridge will combine over three years of company market research and utility voice of the customer, a unique product roadmap, and cutting edge research in the areas of feature implementation and voltage conversion. Keeping in mind the end market, electric utility requirements have been incorporated: highly efficient, cost-competitive, manufacturable within a specific market window, and scalable both to high power and high voltage. This project facilitates a cost-effective and electrically-efficient product design ready for industrialization and ultimately grid integration, while simultaneously incorporating valuable features that justify utility expenditure and meet a market window of need.
