UL Lafayette receives $87M to address grid resiliency

As part of Louisiana’s newly announced energy resilience initiative, Hubs for Resilient Energy Operations (HERO), The University of Louisiana at Lafayette will create Community Resilience Hubs and undertake a project meant to enhance electric grid resiliency.

The initiative’s overall goal: to give communities access to electricity and other vital services during times of natural disaster.

The initiative includes a $250 million Bipartisan Infrastructure Law grant from the US Department of Energy, coupled with a $250 million match from state partners. UL Lafayette received $87 million in federal funding and matching funds and is the largest single recipient of funding. This award is the largest in University history.

The state will initiate a comprehensive integrated community energy planning process and will deploy a network of Community Resilience Hubs powered by distributed solar and battery microgrids. The project is meant to enhance statewide emergency response operations by integrating the HERO Hubs with utility-owned electric grid infrastructure and backup generation assets.

According to Dr. Terry Chambers, director of the University’s EDA-funded Green Hydrogen Center of Excellence and its Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Energy Center, Community Resilience Hubs will be implemented by building solar and battery microgrids at the three University research centers: the Louisiana Solar Energy Lab, located in University Research Park in Lafayette; the New Iberia Research Center; and the Cleco Alternative Energy Center in Crowley. Portable solar and Wi-Fi pods will also be deployed.

The University will also help implement four more projects with Power Strategies, a Louisiana-based clean energy design, engineering, and planning company, to build solar and battery microgrids at Louisiana National Guard bases in Baton Rouge, Hammond and Sulphur.

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“The microgrids will – after a hurricane, for instance – serve communities by assisting first responders and providing spots where there would be power and people could get food and water, cool off, or charge cell phones,” Chambers explained.

The University will also train workers to install these microgrids. Earlier this year, the Louisiana Solar Corps was established for such training. The intent of the Corps is to help workers land internships with solar companies that lead to permanent jobs. The University will work with Xavier University, Louisiana Green Corps and the Louisiana State Building and Trades Council to expand the Louisiana Solar Corps programme to cover microgrids as well as solar energy training across three training pathways: pre-apprentice to apprentice programmes, and two- and four-year pathways.

Lastly, the University will establish a Center of Excellence for Crisis Events with its National Incident Management Systems and Advanced Technologies Institute (NIMSAT). The institute focuses on enriching public-private partnerships and information technologies to enhance national resiliency for a range of potential disasters.

The University owns and operates the 4,200 panel Louisiana Solar Energy Lab, one of the largest outdoor solar testing facilities in the southeastern United States. In addition, the University is home to Antoun Hall, a 4,500-square-foot indoor solar laboratory and classroom building, which stands beside the solar field at University Research Park and will serve as the headquarters for the University’s efforts on the HERO project.

“Our state is prone to natural disasters that can cause significant disruptions to our power grids,” said Dr. Ramesh Kolluru, vice president for Research, Innovation, and Economic Development. “As a global leader in renewable and solar energies, our top-tier R1 research institution is uniquely positioned to improve the resiliency of our state during times of disasters.”

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GRIP Program

The funding for this initiative is just part of the the DOE’s broader, recently announced $3.5 billion investment via the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program.

As its biggest investment in the nation’s grid, the White House’s investment includes 58 projects across 44 states meant to strengthen electric grid resilience and reliability, invest in microgrids, and enable more renewable energy generation across America.

Funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, these projects will leverage more than $8 billion in federal and private investments to deliver clean electricity and ensure the grid is prepared for extreme weather worsened by the climate crisis.

The Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program, managed by DOE’s Grid Deployment Office (GDO), funds activities to modernize the electric grid to reduce impacts of natural disasters and extreme weather worsened by climate change; increase the flexibility, efficiency, and reliability of the electric power system with a particular focus on unlocking more solar, wind, and other clean energy and reducing faults that may lead to wildfires; and improve reliability by deploying innovative approaches to electricity transmission, storage, and distribution.

The announcements of up to $3.46 billion represent a first round of selections under the broader $10.5 billion GRIP Program, which itself is one of several tools from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda that DOE is meant to use to strengthen, diversify, and expand America’s power grid.

Originally published by Sean Wolfe on, and edited with permission from, Power Grid.