{"id":13097,"date":"2020-01-07T09:28:16","date_gmt":"2020-01-07T14:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?p=13097"},"modified":"2020-01-07T09:51:53","modified_gmt":"2020-01-07T14:51:53","slug":"black-starting-the-power-grid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2020\/01\/black-starting-the-power-grid\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Black-Starting’ the Power Grid"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Waves\"\n

In the wake of hurricanes and other natural disasters, a loss of electricity not only disrupts transportation and shutters medical facilities, it also hampers the work of relief personnel. The months long effort to restore power to Puerto Rico following the 2017 hurricane season has led to renewed interest in finding innovative ways to get power grids back online quickly.<\/p>\n

Umesh Korde<\/strong>, a research professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering<\/a> and an instructor and course developer in WSE\u2019s Engineering for Professionals<\/a> programs, offers a possible new way to optimize recovery efforts: While efforts to repair existing infrastructure are underway, use mobile, floating, electricity-generating platforms capable of harnessing energy generated by ocean waves to begin to restore power to affected areas more quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur thesis is that we could deliver energy to affected areas more quickly by rapidly deploying and daisy chaining multiple wave energy devices, and temporarily connecting them to shore,\u201d says Korde, whose innovative approach was published recently in Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe question we addressed here was, among all the different functions of time, what\u2019s the deployment sequence function that minimizes the total length of time that it takes to get sufficient power to restart the power grid for an island?\u201d<\/p>\n

When a hurricane strikes, damage to the affected area\u2019s power grid prompts other areas in the national grid to pitch in with electricity. But relatively small, isolated grids on islands like those of Puerto Rico often lack access to nearby functioning grids, which can lead to a complete shutdown of power.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation in many cases is that they don\u2019t have access to enough spare electricity to turn themselves back on,\u201d Korde says. \u201cSo the generators could potentially provide enough to \u2018black-start\u2019 that grid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether Korde\u2019s optimization plan can become reality depends on the availability of mobile wave generators. As of now, a handful of related projects produce energy around the world, but those generators are not mobile enough to be quickly deployed after hurricanes.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, he hopes that his approach will provide other researchers looking to improve wave generator technology with ideas about how their technologies can be used in a broader sense to meet needs in the wake of disasters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the wake of hurricanes and other natural disasters, a loss of electricity not only disrupts transportation and shutters medical facilities, it also hampers the work of relief personnel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":13107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[632,3935,4652,4657],"class_list":["post-13097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-impact","tag-department-of-environmental-health-and-engineering","tag-engineering-for-professionals","tag-umesh-korde","tag-wave-energy","issue-winter-2020"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n'Black-Starting' the Power Grid - JHU Engineering Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2020\/01\/black-starting-the-power-grid\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'Black-Starting' the Power Grid - JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the wake of hurricanes and other natural disasters, a loss of electricity not only disrupts transportation and shutters medical facilities, it also hampers the work of relief personnel.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2020\/01\/black-starting-the-power-grid\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-07T14:28:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-07T14:51:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/shutterstock_30460015_THUMB.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"301\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Abby Lattes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Abby Lattes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/black-starting-the-power-grid\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/black-starting-the-power-grid\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Abby Lattes\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742\"},\"headline\":\"‘Black-Starting’ the Power Grid\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-07T14:28:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-07T14:51:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/black-starting-the-power-grid\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":381,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/black-starting-the-power-grid\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/shutterstock_30460015_THUMB.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Department of Environmental Health and Engineering\",\"Engineering for Professionals\",\"Umesh Korde\",\"Wave Energy\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Impact\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/black-starting-the-power-grid\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/black-starting-the-power-grid\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/black-starting-the-power-grid\\\/\",\"name\":\"'Black-Starting' the Power Grid - JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/black-starting-the-power-grid\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/black-starting-the-power-grid\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/shutterstock_30460015_THUMB.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-07T14:28:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-07T14:51:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/black-starting-the-power-grid\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/black-starting-the-power-grid\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/black-starting-the-power-grid\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/shutterstock_30460015_THUMB.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/shutterstock_30460015_THUMB.jpg\",\"width\":301,\"height\":200,\"caption\":\"waves\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/black-starting-the-power-grid\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"‘Black-Starting’ the Power Grid\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/\",\"name\":\"JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742\",\"name\":\"Abby Lattes\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Abby Lattes\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"'Black-Starting' the Power Grid - JHU Engineering Magazine","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2020\/01\/black-starting-the-power-grid\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"'Black-Starting' the Power Grid - JHU Engineering Magazine","og_description":"In the wake of hurricanes and other natural disasters, a loss of electricity not only disrupts transportation and shutters medical facilities, it also hampers the work of relief personnel.","og_url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2020\/01\/black-starting-the-power-grid\/","og_site_name":"JHU Engineering Magazine","article_published_time":"2020-01-07T14:28:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-01-07T14:51:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":301,"height":200,"url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/shutterstock_30460015_THUMB.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Abby Lattes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Abby Lattes","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2020\/01\/black-starting-the-power-grid\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2020\/01\/black-starting-the-power-grid\/"},"author":{"name":"Abby Lattes","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742"},"headline":"‘Black-Starting’ the Power Grid","datePublished":"2020-01-07T14:28:16+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-07T14:51:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2020\/01\/black-starting-the-power-grid\/"},"wordCount":381,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2020\/01\/black-starting-the-power-grid\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/shutterstock_30460015_THUMB.jpg","keywords":["Department of Environmental Health and Engineering","Engineering for Professionals","Umesh Korde","Wave Energy"],"articleSection":["Impact"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2020\/01\/black-starting-the-power-grid\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2020\/01\/black-starting-the-power-grid\/","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2020\/01\/black-starting-the-power-grid\/","name":"'Black-Starting' the Power Grid - JHU Engineering Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2020\/01\/black-starting-the-power-grid\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2020\/01\/black-starting-the-power-grid\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/shutterstock_30460015_THUMB.jpg","datePublished":"2020-01-07T14:28:16+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-07T14:51:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2020\/01\/black-starting-the-power-grid\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2020\/01\/black-starting-the-power-grid\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2020\/01\/black-starting-the-power-grid\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/shutterstock_30460015_THUMB.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/shutterstock_30460015_THUMB.jpg","width":301,"height":200,"caption":"waves"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2020\/01\/black-starting-the-power-grid\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"‘Black-Starting’ the Power Grid"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#website","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/","name":"JHU Engineering Magazine","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742","name":"Abby Lattes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c56cb7af5427f847aa288542444ba9ff3d2107bf85dc6c6d44a4d1315608258d?s=96&r=g","caption":"Abby Lattes"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13097"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13496,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13097\/revisions\/13496"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}