Project Grant DEEE0010166

DURING ITS 2020 SESSION, THE WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE PASSED SENATE BILL 583 THAT CREATED A SOLAR UTILITY PROGRAM IN THE STATE. THE PURPOSE OF THE SOLAR TESTBED PROJECT IS TO CONDUCT RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT THAT WILL BUILD UPON THE MOMENTUM GENERATED FROM THIS LEGISLATION TO ACCELERATE THE DEPLOYMENT OF LARGE-SCALE SOLAR TECHNOLOGY IN NORTH CENTRAL WEST VIRGINIA. AS THIS OBJECTIVE IS PURSUED IT WILL CONTRIBUTE SUBSTANTIALLY TO THE NATIONAL GOAL OF PROVIDING "AN EQUITABLE TRANSITION TO A DECARBONIZED ELECTRICITY SYSTEM BY 2035 AND DECARBONIZED ENERGY SECTOR BY 2050." THE SOLAR TESTBED PROJECT TEAMS WILL CONDUCT RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT WITHIN THE SCOPE OF SIX TASKS DEFINED IN THIS STATEMENT OF PROJECT OBJECTIVES. THE TEAMS WILL BE PROVIDED ACCESS TO DATA FROM THE REGIONAL OPERATIONS OF A WEST VIRGINIA UTILITY COMPANY. THIS DATA WILL BE UTILIZED FOR MODELING AND ANALYSIS THAT CAN BE LEVERAGED TO DRIVE AND SUPPORT THE WIDESPREAD DEPLOYMENT OF DISTRIBUTED SOLAR ENERGY GENERATION IN THE REGION. DURING A LATER STAGE OF THE SOLAR TESTBED PROJECT, THE TEAMS WILL BE ABLE TO COLLECT DATA AND STUDY THE OPERATIONS OF AN APPROXIMATELY ONE MEGAWATT (1 MW) SOLAR ENERGY GENERATION SYSTEM CONNECTED AT 12 KV TO BE BUILT AT THE I-79 TECHNOLOGY PARK IN FAIRMONT, WEST VIRGINIA. THE UTILITY'S INVOLVEMENT IN THE PROJECT WILL INCLUDE THE SOLAR INFRASTRUCTURE NECESSARY TO PROVIDE THE APPROXIMATELY 1 MW OF SOLAR ENERGY PROVIDED BY SENATE BILL 583 ALONG WITH ENGINEERING SUPPORT AS IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT. IN ADDITION, RESEARCH AT THE SOLAR TESTBED PROJECT WILL BENEFIT SUBSTANTIALLY FROM DATA COLLECTED DURING ITS COLLABORATION WITH FROM THE UTILITY AS IT DEPLOYS AND OPERATES 50 MW OF SOLAR ENERGY GENERATION IN NORTH CENTRAL WEST VIRGINIA OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL YEARS. THE INFRASTRUCTURE AND REAL-WORLD PERSPECTIVE PROVIDED BY THE UTILITY COLLABORATION COMBINED WITH THE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT TEAMS AT THE HIGH TECHNOLOGY FOUNDATION AND WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY (WVU) WILL ENABLE THE SOLAR TESTBED PROJECT TO PROVIDE VALUABLE CONTRIBUTIONS TO ADOPTION OF RENEWABLE ENERGY IN WEST VIRGINIA AND THE NATION.