Protecting bats from wind turbines. Fortifying the power grid to provide uninterrupted energy.
These were just a couple of the ideas percolating after innovators from the energy sector, academia and other organizations recently teamed up to find solutions to problems facing the energy industry.
Their ideas were showcased at Avangrid’s third annual “Innovation for Sustainable Development” forum at the company’s Orange headquarters on Thursday.
The event included the culmination of Avangrid’s six-month long Innovation Challenge. Five teams of Avangrid employees worked with students from the University of Connecticut, Harvard, Yale, Cornell and MIT in a Shark Tank-style format to pitch ideas for solving problems in the energy industry. The teams were challenged to “propose sustainable solutions for some of the energy sector’s biggest challenges,” according to Avangrid.
In keeping with the effort, on Thursday, Avangrid and Yale signed a three-year agreement that will give Yale’s researchers an industry partner in the clean- energy sector, while providing Avangrid access to “the brightest minds in environmental and energy policy,” according to an announcement.
Avangrid owns utilities in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and New York, and has a nationwide renewable-energy business. It is the country’s third-largest wind power producer.
Avangrid’s headquarters in Orange. / New Haven Biz
Anthony Marone, president and CEO of Avangrid Networks, called Thursday’s event an opportunity to “pull together bright and fresh ideas.”
“Some of the ideas are really unique, and it is a wide range,” Marone said. “By teaming up with students from leading educational institutions, it creates an opportunity to look at what the future should look like.”
Marone noted how the UConn team came up with an idea to help prevent bats from colliding with wind turbines. By looking at factors like humidity, temperature and time of day, workers can better predict when bats are likely to be most active and adjust turbine use accordingly.
“With the forum, we are identifying problems and then trying to find solutions that make sense for all,” Marone said. “Innovation has always been important. We see it as an important part of what we need to do in the business.”
He noted that while solar energy works well during the day and in direct sunlight, Avangrid is looking for ways to better combine it with wind power, which is strong at other times of the day. The company is working to ensure customers have power, and everything behind the scenes is working efficiently, according to Marone.
“We want to be ahead of the curve to use technology of today and shape the technology of tomorrow,” Marone said.
The MIT team tackled how to secure a sustainable supply chain. Harvard’s team’s topic dealt with educating the next generation for the future of energy. UConn was tasked with brainstorming ideas related to environmental conservation, while Yale’s assignment was to enable innovation of green energy.
Avangrid senior strategic account manager Ted Novicki addresses the crowd at Thursday’s event. Novicki worked with a team of students from MIT on securing a sustainable supply chain. / New Haven Biz
The winning team, which included students from Cornell, brainstormed how to fortify the grid to deliver uninterrupted access. According to Avangrid, the team “developed an innovative design to control the power grid that maximizes the utilization of renewable resources while improving system reliability at lower costs.”
Raquel Mercado, executive director, CEO Office (Networks and Innovation) with Avangrid, said the company puts the event together each year to watch the teams present the results of their innovation challenges.
“We find the benefit is that the students learn how work is done in the real world and our employees learn about the latest research, Mercado said.
Mercado praised all of the ideas coming forward, such as building websites to appeal to children so teachers can pull projects from them, and holding vendors accountable for their carbon footprints.
Members of the winning team were Avangrid’s Devang Patel, Jim Mader and Mark Waclawiak, and Cornell’s Shikhar Prakash and Tumani Edwards.
The following students also participated in the innovation challenge. Winners receive a cash prize, as well as tuition assistance for 2019, according to Avangrid.
- Harvard University: Milan Bhandari, Charles Hua, Keshav Rastogi
- MIT: Janak Agrawal, Talha Faiz
- UConn: Himaja Nagireddy, Feifei Yang
- Yale University: Martin Cilloniz, Marc Potin
Contact Michelle Tuccitto Sullo at msullo@newhavenbiz.com
