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Energized for change

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] After seeing the devastation of hurricanes in Puerto Rico, grad student Miguel González-Montijo is working on clean energy innovations for the future. [/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height="10px"][vc_column_text css=".vc_custom_1716246986604{margin-top: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 10px !important;}"]By Jamie Swenson | Photos by Dennis Wise | May 2024[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height="20px"][vc_column_text css=".vc_custom_1709836835749{margin-top: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 20px !important;}"]As Hurricane Maria tore through Arecibo, Puerto Rico, in 2017, Miguel González-Montijo hunkered down at home with his family. They were no strangers to hurricanes. Just two weeks earlier, a Category 5 Hurricane Irma had skirted the island, demolishing homes, causing floods and knocking out power for more than a million people. And now Maria, with wind speeds up to 155...

Transforming the nation’s electrical grid to better support renewable energy

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=".vc_custom_1632856777608{padding-bottom: 10px !important;}"]September 24, 2021[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=".vc_custom_1632856510391{padding-bottom: 10px !important;}"]By Wayne Gillam | UW ECE News[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=".vc_custom_1632855524622{padding-bottom: 10px !important;}"]It’s probably not news that electric power systems across the country can be vulnerable to extensive outages, as demonstrated by natural disasters such as Hurricane Ida and the 2021 Texas Ice Storm. But what may not be commonly known is that the electrical system the nation depends on, the North American power transmission grid, is still highly dependent on fossil fuels, not only to generate power, but also to restart the system itself when outages occur.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=".vc_custom_1632855539016{padding-bottom: 10px !important;}"]Recently, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the creation of a new public-private consortium, which...