The center for
Weather Innovation and Smart Energy And Resilience
WHAT IS WISER
The proposed Center for Weather Innovation and Smart Energy and Resilience (WISER) is a partnership between The University at Albany and the University of Connecticut. WISER aims to provide state-of-the-art weather and climate information combined with leading edge industry-inspired research and development to empower and safeguard the energy industry of the future. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), we envision WISER to become a leading energy industry-academia partnership, advancing research and cutting-edge technologies to continually improve power grid efficiency and reliability in the face of a changing climate and transition to clean energy.
Proposed Research Projects
Effectively Integrating Disparate Operational Data Sources into Research, Products, or Action
An Offshore Wind Resource Assessment and Forecasting Tool (OWRAFT)
Weather and Impact Modeling for Outage Prediction, Management and Restoration
Integrating System Resilience with Dynamic Economic Analysis
Power System Optimization Designs to Spur Renewable Energy Sources Adoption in a Changing Climate
Power System Optimization Designs to Spur Renewable Energy Sources Adoption in a Changing Climate
3D-DERMS: Data-Driven Distribution Systems Distributed Energy Resource Management System
MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS
Leverage Research Dollars: Get high ROI (Return on Investment) via joint project funding model. Each member dollar leverages 11 additional dollars (1:11 Leverage Ratio)
Access Talent: Members can scout student talent and mentor them, so they end up with the desired skills for work in industry
Reduce R&D Risk: Share the risks of early-stage research for disruptive technology
Research Cost Avoidance: Save internal research dollars, access to facilities and infrastructure, and lower human capital costs
Access Network: Interact collegially with other members/competitors/regulators
Access Intellectual Property (IP): Royalty-free, non-exclusive licenses on IP produced in the Center
North American Forecasting Model: Outage, Damage and Load
PI: Diego Cerrai (UConn)
Co-PIs: Marina Astitha, E. Anagnostou, D. Song (UConn); Jeffrey Freedman, Sukanta Basu (Albany)
The WISER North American Forecasting Model transforms weather data into actionable intelligence, allowing energy companies to shift from reactive to proactive grid management by integrating AI-driven predictions for:
Infrastructure damage
Customer outages
Energy load spikes
Project Goal:
Develop the North American Outage Prediction Model to predict system failures across the entire CONUS + Quebec, blending proprietary & public data
Industry Relevance:
Storm outages increase financial risks & undermine reliability. Current prediction gaps lead to inefficient resource allocation.