Emera & NB Power Research Centre for Smart Grid Technologies
Transforming the world’s power systems
Within the next 10 years, advanced smart grid technologies are expected to revolutionize how we consume, distribute and produce electricity.
The Emera & NB Power Research Centre for Smart Grid Technologies at the University of New Brunswick will be at the forefront of this emerging industry.
In collaboration with academic and private sector partners, research and innovation from the Emera & NB Power Research Centre for Smart Grid Technologies will play a pivotal role in advancing the transformation of conventional power grids around the world.
Leading-edge research and strong partnerships
The Emera & NB Power Research Centre for Smart Grid Technologies will be a global leader in the transformation of electric power systems into smart grids through R&D, innovation, commercial partnerships, high-quality researchers and state-of-the-art research facilities.
The centre builds on the critical mass of researchers — including faculty members, postdoctoral fellows, PhD and MSc students — in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and from UNB’s previous Sustainable Power Research Group. First-class, comprehensive research facilities like the Smart Grid Research Lab will support the research, development, demonstration and deployment of smart grid technologies.
The centre will work with industry partners such as Emera, Siemens and NB Power to realize economic and environmental benefits of new technologies.
Smart Grid Research Lab
The Emera & NB Power Research Centre for Smart Grid Technologies will be led by researchers from UNB’s Smart Grid Research Lab. The team is housed in the Faculty of Engineering and consists of world-renowned R&D personnel with expertise in power systems, power electronics, advanced controls, communications and signal processing, renewable energy conversion, distributed generation, and computer engineering.
The lab undertakes R&D in the early stage of the innovation cycle, and acts as a platform for developing new smart grid concepts, models and algorithms.
Since the early 2000s, members of the Smart Grid Research Lab have worked on large-scale, multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary R&D projects with industry and government partners such as NRCan, Government of New Brunswick, NB Power, Siemens Canada, and many others.
Interdisciplinary impact
Centre researchers will work collaboratively from an interdisciplinary perspective, tying smart grid research back to:
- Renewable energy
- Big data analytics
- Cybersecurity
- Business
- Economics
- Innovation and entrepreneurship
Emera invests $6.2 million
The Emera & NB Power Research Centre for Smart Grid Technologies was launched in January 2017 with a $6.2 investment from Emera.
The investment includes support for a collaborative project to research, develop, deploy and demonstrate smart grid technologies within select Emera assets, thereby further applying and advancing the university’s knowledge in the smart grid field.
Over time, UNB-developed technologies will play a pivotal role in advancing the smart grid transformation of conventional power grids around the world.
Emera Chair in Smart Grid Technologies
The Emera Chair in Smart Grid Technologies, as established within the centre, will lead the smart grid research and training of highly qualified people in an ecosystem that couples research to innovation and entrepreneurship.
Centre team members undertake research, development, demonstration and deployment projects in the context of utility and industry partner power systems, offing a unique capacity understand grid scale issues, develop relationships with collaborators and contribute to grid modernization.
The creation of the Emera & NB Power Research Centre for Smart Grid Technologies allows UNB to continue to grow as a hub of smart grid excellence and a source of commercialization opportunities for an entire spectrum of smart grid technologies and products.
Smart Grid Innovation Network
UNB is a founding partner of the Smart Grid Innovation Network, which fosters the co-creation and testing of cutting edge of smart grid technology.
