NETL, Pittsburgh clean energy initiatives recognized with Federal Laboratory Consortium award

The Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) Mid-Atlantic Region will recognize the National Energy Technology Laboratory’s (NETL) work with the City of Pittsburgh on its “Clean Energy City of the Future” initiatives with a state and local economic development award for 2018.

FCL will present the award at its regional meeting on Nov. 14 at the Universities at Shady Grove in Rockville, Maryland.

NETL signed a memorandum of understanding with the City of Pittsburgh in July 2015. Since then, laboratory personnel have worked to design and implement infrastructure to support the use of clean energy in the city.

NETL has worked to incorporate microgrids into the city’s electric system. The city plans to implement new distributed energy systems and expand upon five existing systems to create energy generation and distribution infrastructure consisting of nine energy districts. Each system will operate independently or cooperatively with the existing grid and will incorporate a variety of power sources, including advanced fossil energy technologies.

Planned projects include an NETL-funded prototype solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system that runs on clean natural gas at Pittsburgh’s NRG Energy Center, a new combined heat and power plant to serve Uptown District buildings and a 2nd Avenue Energy District project that combines garage and rooftop photovoltaic solar, battery storage and electric vehicle charging stations.