U California Los Angeles Wins $1.62 Million To Build Energy Storage System

Engineers from the University of California Los Angeles Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have won a $1.62 million grant to build a hybrid energy storage system.

The team with work with Southern California Edison, which will help operate the system on the Cal Poly Pomona campus upon completion, to build a system to store "energy harvested from intermittently productive renewable sources such as solar panels and wind farms, then releases that energy into the grid when demand is high," according to a news release.

Lead by Pirouz Kavehpour, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UCLA, the team will build a system that uses both compressed air and thermal energy storage technologies to enhance capacity and reduce costs.

"Our estimated cost of energy for this unit is about $100 per kilowatt hour, which is much lower than any battery system of which we are aware," said Kavehpour, in a prepared statement.

The grant was awarded by the California Energy Commission.

About the Author

Joshua Bolkan is contributing editor for Campus Technology, THE Journal and STEAM Universe. He can be reached at [email protected].

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