CMU Team and Partners Win ARPA-E Grid Optimization Competition Award
A team comprised of Carnegie Mellon University and University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) researchers has placed in the top 10 in all divisions of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) Grid Optimization (GO) Competition. The competition results were announced recently by the U.S. Department of Energy Secretary.
The “Tartan Buffs” team (named after Carnegie Mellon's nickname and CU Boulder's mascot) includes Scott Institute Faculty Affiliates and Electrical and Computer Engineering Professors Javad Mohammadi and Soummya Kar, and CU Boulder Professors Kyri Baker (CMU alum) and Dr. Mohammadhafez Bazrafshan.
The researchers developed a lightweight optimization algorithm that could optimize power generation settings across large power networks while adhering to physical grid constraints. ARPA-E will financially support extending the novel large-scale optimization algorithms developed in this work to build a Grid Optimization platform. This platform, called ‘Grid ARMOR’ (which stands for Grid Analytics, Rapid Modeling and Optimization Routines), will enable solving national scale power system security and optimization problems.
The GO Competition is a year-long competition aimed at overhauling and modernizing grid software structured around multiple challenges. It incentivizes entrepreneurial efforts to help the grid operate more efficiently and securely. The algorithms and software solutions submitted to the GO Competition supplement ARPA-E's efforts to break down barriers to empower widespread, fast adoption of emerging grid technologies with the goal of saving billions of dollars in the energy sector.