Published: November 01, 2009 11:36 pm      

Federal grant allowing FSU to complete energy research facility

FROSTBURG — Essentially, the building will look like a modest home with a stucco finish.

But the Sustainable Energy Research Facility at Frostburg State University will have a few distinguishing features.

A wind turbine will sit out front, for example. On the roof: daylight monitors and solar panels.

University officials expect to break ground this spring on the 4,000-square-foot facility, where a team of researchers will study renewable and clean energy resources available in the Appalachian region.

FSU recently received $856,350 from the U.S. Department of Energy to support the final phase of the project, including funds for equipment and personnel. In 2008, FSU received $738,000 from the USDE to fund construction.

The research facility is expected to open in fall 2010.

“We collected extensive information about similar facilities and projects by site visits and contacts,” said Oguz Soysal, the research facility’s co-director, listing the following examples:

• Net Zero Energy House, Clinton County, N.Y.

• Solar Energy Center at Farmingdale State College at SUNY.

• The Hocking College Energy Institute at Logan, Ohio.

• Wind Energy Institute of Canada.

• North Cape Wind Energy Center, Prince Edward Island, Canada.

“The information helped us in preparing the design requirements and guiding the architects and engineers throughout the design process,” Soysal said.

Featuring lab space and work stations, as well as a public exhibition area, the research center will be located in the Allegany Business Center at FSU, close to the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences Appalachian Laboratory.

Besides fostering research, the facility is intended to educate the community about how to use renewable and sustainable energy sources. The facility is to serve as an example of a self-sufficient, off-grid building for homeowners, farmers or entrepreneurs who seek energy security in Western Maryland.

A number of education and outreach programs are planned, including the continuation of the Wind and Solar Energy Education program, and programs on energy efficient buildings and energy audits.

“America’s grid, while an efficient and cost-effective distributor of electricity, is also remarkably vulnerable to natural disaster or deliberate attack,” said U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, who helped secure federal funding for the project.

“Residents and small businesses will benefit from SERF’s work to develop alternative, renewable, local sources of energy and technologies to provide enough electricity for a small facility to operate independent of the grid.”

A team of six to eight researchers is expected to staff the facility, including co-directors Oguz and Hilkat Soysal, pre- and post-doctoral fellows, graduate assistants and interns. For more information about the facility, go to www.frostburg.edu/renewable.

Contact Kristin Harty Barkley at kharty@times-news.com.