Researchers to Receive Federal Funding to Improve America's Power Grid

The funding is part of ARPA-E’s Unlocking Lasting Transformative Resiliency Advances by Faster Actuation of Power Semiconductor Technologies program, which aims to improve control and protection of the domestic power grid. 

“We are pleased to be selected for this award,” said Alan Mantooth, Distinguished Professor of electrical engineering and head of the U of A Power Group. “We feel that our module concepts are game changers for fast charging infrastructure and grid protection devices.”  

Mantooth and other Power Group researchers will develop a heterogeneously integrated, high-power semiconductor module for various applications on the electric power grid and electric vehicles, including aircraft. The researchers are also building silicon-carbide integrated circuits and power modules for current and next-generation electric and hybrid vehicles. Earlier this year, under a separate ARPA-E project, the researchers achieved a major milestone with the successful test flight of their electric motor drive on a hybrid electric aircraft. 

The Power Group benefits from the U of A’s High Density Electronics Center, or HiDEC. HiDEC is one of the most advanced power electronics packaging facilities at any university in the United States. 

The Department of Energy grant is part of $42 million for 15 projects across 11 states to improve the reliability, resiliency and flexibility of the domestic power grid through the development of next-generation semiconductor technologies. 

In addition to the U of A, other universities receiving funding were Texas Tech University; University of California, Santa Barbara; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; University of Pennsylvania; University of Wisconsin-Madison; and University of Tennessee, Knoxville.  

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas’ economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research and Economic Development News.