UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (WTAJ) – Researchers at Penn State University are teaming up with others in a multi-state collaboration to develop a testing ground for sustainable power grids for use in rural areas.

The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) has awarded millions of dollars to researchers in Ohio, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Tennessee to develop and deploy smart grids for use by rural electric companies.

Smart grids are electricity supply networks designed to detect and react to local changes in usage utilizing computer systems. They can incorporate sustainable energy systems, like wind power, and emerging technologies, like electric vehicle charging stations. But researchers believe that many companies are hesitant to implement these systems due to potential cost or unknown ramifications.

In order to alleviate those uncertainties, ARC, a federal-state partnership that works to develop sustainable economic opportunities in the region, has given a $10 million grant to researchers. Industry stakeholders have matched that grant, resulting in $20 million in total funding for the project.

The Penn State research team received $750,000 from the ARC grant, as well as additional funding from the University. It will be focusing on improving the resilience of Tri-County Rural Electric Cooperative Inc.’s power grid, which provides electricity to almost 20,000 people across Cameron, Bradford, Clinton, Lycoming, McKean, Potter and Tioga Counties, making the system more reliable.

“We know that Appalachia regions are often left behind in advanced technologies in several ways,” Peter B. Idowu, professor of electrical engineering at Penn State Harrisburg and principal investigator on Penn State’s contributions to the project said. “These areas are remote and generally small without the resources needed to adapt smart grids — especially if they don’t know how they will work in their specific network.”

According to researchers, the goal of this initiative is to empower rural electric utility companies to be able to model and test different scenarios to gain confidence in deploying smart grid technologies. Researchers hope to accomplish this by modeling grids using the HILLTOP+ microgrid simulation platform, originally developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

By using this system, Idowu said that researchers will be able to model scenarios as close to real as possible. For example, if a storm were to down a tree onto powerlines in Cameron County, the team would be able to assess – to millionths of a second – what issues that may cause and how to best mitigate loss of power by using other resources.

Energy tech startups will also be able to use this technology to test the interoperability of new smart grid hardware and software.