Supporting Wisconsin industry’s needs to develop efficient power conversion products.
The Need: $5M for full-scale, high-voltage power test lab, to support Wisconsin industry’s needs to develop efficient power conversion products.
These products will address emerging markets, such as data centers, that demand significant energy and a reliable electrical energy source. These demands are driven by the rapidly growing AI market (among the world’s fastest-growing industries), a top Wisconsin priority. A UWM full-scale, high-voltage power test lab will address these needs.
How Wisconsin wins:
- Meets high-demand Wisconsin need. Wisconsin is one of 15 states carrying 80% of the nation’s data center load. When online, Microsoft’s new Mount Pleasant data center will be the largest individual user of electricity in the state. What’s needed for this and other new planned Wisconsin data centers is energy—and efficient transmission of the power and high-voltage power conversion products. The proposed full-scale, high-voltage power test lab could help address this need, removing the significant capital cost barrier that prevents Wisconsin companies from building labs with this proposed capability. By working together with industry partners this test lab would provide cost-effective development testing, access to student and faculty talent, and contribute to the development of a technically skilled Wisconsin workforce.
- On-shores Eaton testing from China to Wisconsin. Eaton has provided $300K and UWM $200K to create an industry accessible, simulation-based product development lab. Additional funding is needed to move beyond simulation and validate reliable operation by connecting with the U.S. power distribution grid in real time, in a test environment that is safe for personnel, product testing and grid operation.
- “Plug-and-play” lab open to all industry, government and university research partners. This new high-voltage and power test lab supports Wisconsin’s numerous power conversion product developers and power generation and transmission companies by facilitating research and development of products that service multiple markets. These include data centers, energy transmission and generation companies, and high-voltage and high-power conversion products that will support and grow Wisconsin’s economy. This facility will reduce developers’ time to market, improve their development efficiency through local access to test facilities and therefore reduce the final cost. This is a critical global competitive advantage. The lab provides a neutral environment for full-scale grid component development and testing. It addresses a consistent and long-term request from Wisconsin industrial companies.
Why UWM:
- Wisconsin is a hotbed for power, energy and controls and UWM is at the epicenter. Over 1,125 companies in this sector employ a workforce of over 121,000.
- Company demands for skilled talent in this sector is high and underserved. UWM, as Southeast Wisconsin’s only R1-ranked, top research university, is known for producing expert, next-generation energy engineers.
- UMM is known for expertise in addressing industry needs as it leads the Midwest arm of an industry/university cooperative research center: Grid-connected Advanced Power Electronic Systems. The goal of this industrial-driven consortium is to accelerate the research and testing industry needs to advance the development of cost-effective and reliable power conversion products. These products connect directly to the electrical power grid and perform efficient downstream energy conversion and fault (outage) protection.
- Deep expertise in microgrids, nanogrids, power electronics, controls, and energy security.
- UWM leads Wisconsin workforce energy training not only for four-year degrees, but community and technical colleges. UWM leads Wisconsin’s U.S. DoE-funded Industrial Training and Assessment Center, helping our state’s manufacturers increase productivity and competitiveness by recommending ways to reduce energy and water use. New DoE grants support training teachers and students at Wisconsin and Midwest technical and community colleges to do this work, addressing the state’s skilled labor shortage.
- Industry relies upon UWM for product development support; seeks expanded capabilities. Wisconsin industry is currently using UWM’s test facilities to support product development of their low-power products. Multiple industry members have sought out a full-scale high-voltage power test lab at UWM to meet additional testing needs. We welcome the opportunity to discuss these needs, including examples of industrial users, testing requests and capabilities.
Connect with us to learn more
Andrew Graettinger, Associate Dean for Research andrewjg@uwm.edu