Dr. Shittu helps head multi-year research grant program for energy research

Drs. Ekundayo Shittu, Leila Farhadi (CEE) and Saniya LeBlanc (MAE) head two of the three GW research teams led that recently were selected for the inaugural Duke Energy Renewables Innovation Fund Awards, a multi-year research grant program for energy research.  Professor Shittu heads the “Microgrid Financing: Challenges and Solutions” team, and Professor LeBlanc heads the “Living Lab to Study Solar Farms” team.  Professor Shittu’s team will look at states like California, Connecticut, and New Jersey that have invested in microgrids to see what they can learn from their models, and they will assess financial barriers, technical design, and development of policies to support investment.  Graduate students in Professor LeBlanc’s Nanotechnology in Energy Applications course will travel to the Duke Energy Renewables solar farm in North Carolina this month for their project.  They will study the soil type, catalogue the energy output, and analyze the design.  They also will examine the system to see how the surrounding environment is affected by the change in land use and the economic costs associated with building the farm