University of North Florida opens JEA Sustainable Solution Lab for jobs of the future
In the field of clean energy research, JEA's financial support for the University of North Florida has become a renewable funding source.
Two decades after JEA gave $500,000 to UNF that the school parlayed into winning millions of dollars in grants and partnerships, the city-owned utility is making another $500,000 commitment to UNF for teaching and research as JEA seeks to achieve its own goals for reducing the use of fossil fuels.
Utility and college officials joined together Tuesday for the grand opening of the JEA Sustainable Solutions Lab on the UNF campus.
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"This is what synergy is all about," UNF President Moez Limayem said. "Together we can develop the talent needed in our community, and together we can do much, much more."
JEA set a goal of 35% of its electricity coming from clean-energy sources by 2030, a benchmark that would include nuclear power from Plant Vogtle and solar energy. The Sustainable Solutions Lab at UNF will do research on "sustainable solutions" for JEA on both the electric and water sides of the utility's operation.
JEA says its investment in UNF will benefit the utility by preparing college students for the kind of work that JEA and other industries in Northeast Florida will need to fill while transitioning to using more clean and renewable energy technology.
"Sustainability and a sustainable future is at the core of what we do," JEA Chief Operating Officer Raynetta Curry Marshall said as she joined Limayen to cut the ribbon of the building where the lab is located. "And at JEA, I'm proud to say that we have many UNF graduates that are helping us toward that bright and sustainable future."
JEA previously gave $500,000 to UNF in the early 2000s for research and education in the field of clean and renewable energy. The school was able to use that seed money to do about $18 million of research through the lab by winning grants, including research into the development of fuel cells.
"We went back to JEA and said, 'Look, that was pretty successful the first go-round. Let's do it again,'" said Jim Fletcher, an associate professor of mechanical engineering who has lead the UNF program. "We went through some discussions about how we can expand what we're doing."
JEA's agreed to provide $100,000 a year over the next five years. The scope of research will go beyond the original mission of clean energy by also covering clean water and green transportation technology.
Fletcher said UNF plans to offer a "green energy certificate program" that will give engineers, scientists and others in Northeast Florida a way to pursue courses in the field. On the research side, several of the projects that students showed off dealt with ways to use hydrogen as a fuel source.
Engineering students doing research in lab said it's a chance to take a truly hands-on approach.
"It's tangible to me," said Dylan Jones, who earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from UNF in the spring and is pursuing his master's degree. "I can touch it and I can produce it. I can see the action. I do my fair share of coding for all this stuff. But really, it's the turning of the wrenches that I really like."
The Sustainable Solutions Lab will test different kinds of technology for powering small-scale electric grids called "microgrids." A cleared area at the site has solar panels that will be used for the start of testing. Ulimately, the research will look as well as how to connect multiple microgrids into a large system.
"These microgrids have kind of an infinite number of possibilities," Fletcher said. "Does it connect to the JEA grid of not? Is it solar-powered or is it a natural gas turbine power? There's so many different opportunities and choices."
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: JEA supports renewable energy research by UNF
