As data centers and electric vehicles become more prevalent, the U.S. power grid is increasingly challenged to deliver significantly more electricity than ever before.
Supported by a two-year, $500,000 grant from the Department of Energy, Nebraska College of Engineering researcher Jun Wang is combining three of his patented innovations to develop a new power module that enhances power grid resiliency with 30 times faster switching frequencies and five times greater power density than current devices.
Wang’s project is one of 23 selected by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy’s (ARPA-E) “Nurturing a New Generation of Innovators to Create Impactful New Technologies in Energy,” which supports young innovators who aim to “translate disruptive and unconventional ideas into impactful new technologies across the full range of energy applications.”
“This is about enabling technology in new disruptive semiconductor technologies,” said Wang, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering.
Wang said much of the current power grid infrastructure is more than 50 years old and “we may face a situation where our capacity to supply energy and make it sustainable will be insufficient.”
“There are many resources (for harvesting electricity), such as offshore and wind, that can help harness these new renewable energies to power new data centers and EVs, which are a new type of powertronics,” Wang said. “That means we need better semiconductor modules as a key component, and that’s why we developed MetaPak.”
MetaPak (Multi-Cell Electrical Transient Acceleration Press Pack) modules combine three patented technologies: a highly flexible, switched cell building block architecture with minimized power loop inductance, beryllium copper monolithic springs, MetaMind Device Manager, and E-field and EMI suppression.
As greener transportation technologies and artificial intelligence become more widespread, electricity demand is expected to grow faster than the trend over the past half century, which will put strain on power grids everywhere, especially in Nebraska.
As of June 2024, there are more than 5,800 data centers operating in the United States, more than half of the total number of data centers worldwide. And with the growing presence of tech giants such as Google and Meta, the Omaha metropolitan area ranks second in the nation for data center electricity demand, with an estimated 1.23 gigawatts.
Data centers are currently estimated to consume between 4.6% and 9.1% of U.S. electricity by 2026, with the amount of energy required expected to double every five to six years.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported in March 2024 that more than 3 million EVs will be registered in the U.S., and 7% of light vehicles (excluding large trucks and aircraft) sold this year will run on electricity. By 2030, half of all new cars sold in the U.S. will be electric, and light vehicle energy consumption is expected to increase 3,360% by 2035.
“Our infrastructure is strong, but there is a gap between what we can deliver today and what we will be required to deliver in the future. We are combining new packaging, new topologies and new intelligence to fill that gap and transform the existing infrastructure,” Wang said.
