Problem Statement: Falling prices, better quality and favorable government incentives have led to increased demand for alternative energy in recent years. However, renewables have not yet reached price parity with traditional sources of energy, and external factors such as price have disproportionately impacted low- and moderate-income (LMI) homes. Such communities represent 43% of all US households, yet only 15% of solar adopters due in large part to lack of available financing and up-front capital requirements. Incentives are critical to renewable energy adoption among disadvantaged communities, but traditional subsidies are a financial burden on the taxpayer and cannot be used by Native American groups. Solution: This research will develop a novel power conversion platform for interconnecting renewable energy with energy storage and the AC grid. The proposed solution will have greater than 95% efficiency, longer mean time to failure, a 40% reduction in cost and 30% reduction in volume compared to conventional systems. It will be easily scalable to maximize potential applications and greatly drive down the costs of renewable energy adoption, which is especially critical for adoption among LMI communities. Phase I Activities: The objective of this Phase I effort is to design, develop, and experimentally validate a multi-port, multi-directional, scalable power conversion platform with energy storage. We will complete design, component selection and fabrication of a gallium-nitride-based power conversion system with a target of greater than 95% efficiency and power density of 6.1kW/L. We will use computer software to simulate closed-loop control schemes for power flow regulation and output voltage control, build a proof-of-concept for testing and evaluation at low power, and present a report of the design optimization and fabrication. Commercial Applications: This solution will be used to develop lower-cost inverter for off-grid and grid-tied renewable energy use. We anticipate that costs will be approximately 14% below current retail for low-power (less than 10kW) inverters. As this technology can be easily scaled, it will be able to be used in various residential and small commercial (<30kW) applications, and greater efficiency will mean higher energy output for any given system size as compared to existing technologies.
