The frequency and intensity of climate disasters aren’t slowing down, so proactive research and development that protects energy systems is crucial, said Tom Bartnik, director of The Franco Harris Pittsburgh Center at Penn State.
At a project fair Tuesday night, Penn State New Kensington students took to the floor to share research on renewable power and how energy systems can adapt in the face of climate hazards.
The five groups of students shared findings that were also presented in poster form at the university’s research expo last week.
The project fair was for a class on energy and the environment taught by engineering professor Courtney Cole.
Engineering students Noah Boggs, Brendan Savinda, David Vresh, Tom Gniewkowski and information technology student Daniel Garcia researched how changing climates affect the power grid, focusing largely on weather detriments to power lines and energy distribution.
Each student analyzed how a different severe weather hazard, including ice, flooding, fire, extreme temperature changes and tornadoes, can weaken distribution systems.
Wildfires tear through any energy infrastructure on the ground, Gniewkowski said in his group’s presentation.
Planning ahead, especially in regions prone to fires, can prevent negative and unsafe outcomes from infrastructure damage, he said.
“The best solution is try and route things away from those areas,” Gniewkowski said. “If that’s unavoidable, then things like burying (power lines) under the ground, or using steel poles rather than wood poles.”
To accompany the presentation, the group developed an interactive 3D-printed model depicting some of the climate hazards outlined in their research.
“We have to change everything to fit within the climate,” Boggs said. “The grid must learn to adapt, otherwise these climate hazards are going to destroy it.”
Though the group wasn’t sure if they would become renewable energy engineers, they said the project helped them understand the field better.
“It teaches you to think about how things affect (each other)” Boggs said.
Bartnik, who was the fair’s keynote speaker, said up-and-coming engineers should be researching ways to be proactive about energy solutions and be open to new ideas.
The project fair exemplified that, he said.
“The students did a great job looking at hazards,” Bartnik said. “If they’re not thinking about it now … it’s not going to help the problem.”
Other student presentations analyzed how weather hazards effect hydropower facilities, climate effects on nuclear power plants and improvements to solar energy.
Cole, the engineering professor, said she hoped the project would help students be more aware of how renewable energy can adapt, especially as the need for it becomes more important.
“When I was in school no one really talked about it,” Cole said.