LUBBOCK, TX (August 1, 2017) – Group NIRE has selected Texas Tech University Graduate Student Shamsul Arefeen to help support them in a four-year project for the Department of Energy.

The DOE has selected Group NIRE and its partner DNV GL to test energy storage and distributed energy technologies. The project will be called “Cycling Hardware to Analyze and Ready Grid-Scale Electricity Storage (CHARGES).” Testing is expected to begin later this year.

Through CHARGES, the DOE will test and evaluate in both realistic conditions and controlled environments. Methods for storing electricity for the electric power system (i.e. the grid) are developing rapidly, but widespread adoption of these technologies requires real-world data about their performance, economic benefit and long-term reliability.

Projects like CHARGES present unique opportunities for Group NIRE to provide quality internships for students. Arefeen will support Group NIRE’s staff in generating an optimum deployment plan for the energy storage technologies. The technologies will be tested at Group NIRE’s field site under conditions designed to represent not just today’s applications, but also the demands of tomorrow’s electric power system.

The objective of the CHARGES program is to accelerate the commercialization of electrochemical energy storage systems developed in current and past ARPA-E-funded research efforts. The program aims to help ARPA-E-funded battery development teams improve their storage technologies to deliver substantial economic benefit.