From the Dean’s Desk: FIU & FPL Boost Energy Research
As hurricane season begins, communities turn their attention to storm preparedness.
At FIU’s College of Engineering and Computing, our decades-long partnership with Florida Power & Light Company (FPL)—which delivers power to millions of customers across our state—has positioned us at the forefront of researching technologies that can help keep the lights on when severe weather strikes.
In this month’s message, I’d like to highlight some of the inspiring achievements of this partnership. In particular, I would like to discuss the work of one of our faculty members, Dr. Arif Sarwat, and the research being conducted in his Energy, Power & Sustainability-Intelligence (EPSi) lab.
“Our collaboration with FPL exemplifies our college’s strategic focus on environmental resilience and energy innovation,” says Sarwat, Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director of the FIU-FPL Solar Research Center.”
“Through groundbreaking research in technologies, such as our smart grid and AI-powered control systems, we’re not just advancing academic knowledge—we’re developing cutting-edge, practical solutions.”
His team’s collaborative work stands as one of many shining examples at the College of Engineering and Computing of what’s possible when academia and industry work together.
FIU: Where Energy Innovation, Environmental Resilience, and Artificial Intelligence Meet
With FPL as an instrumental partner, our FIU has produced several noteworthy research outcomes and opportunities over the years.
In 2016, FIU and FPL unveiled the FIU-FPL Solar Research Center, featuring a unique 1.4-megawatt solar array comprising 46 grid-following string inverters and more than 4,400 solar panels. The facility provides clean power to our Engineering Center equivalent to the energy it takes to run 233 single-family homes per day—while also offering shade for approximately 400 parking spaces through an innovative raised-canopy design. Additionally, the solar facility gives FIU researchers the opportunity to investigate system and component-level solar power plant reliability and resilience in a warm, humid climate characterized by annual adverse weather events.
It’s clean energy research from a unique South Florida perspective, and the only installation of its kind that FPL has established at a Florida university.
Expanding Our Research Infrastructure
In 2021, our Engineering Center became home to a remarkable microgrid system that was designed to transform our engineering complex into an independent smart city during power outages and adverse grid events. This innovative system taps into the energy captured from the solar canopy and incorporates a large-scale, 9MWh/3MW Lithium-Ion battery energy storage system to create a resilient energy ecosystem capable of sustaining critical operations.
The microgrid can operate in both grid-connected and “island” modes, transitioning to an independent control system through the use of a black-start enabled grid-forming inverter to meet varying power level demands at our Engineering Center while the main grid is unavailable. The system can supply energy for up to several days under certain conditions, in the event of a hurricane or natural disaster.
AI-Powered Solutions
The microgrid facility is also becoming a hub for AI research. Dr. Sarwat and his students in EPSi are leveraging key data and learnings from the microgrid to develop and test AI-based control systems under operational conditions to maximize energy storage efficiency, reliability, resilience and economic viability.
These key EPSi research facilities offer students—like Ph.D. candidate Alexander Stevenson—unique opportunities.
“The AI algorithms we’re developing here allow the microgrid to provide owners and operators with additional value while maintaining essential services, thereby leading to higher adoption rates,” Stevenson says.
“My hope is that these advances we have made at FIU can be scaled up to help electric utilities increase grid stability, reliability, and sustainability while keeping communities powered during their most vulnerable moments.”
Building Specialized Energy Labs
Beyond the solar array and microgrid, our collaboration with FPL has produced additional impressive energy research facilities.
PANDORAS Lab: The Proactive Analytics and Data Oriented Research on Availability and Security (PANDORAS) Lab is a state-of-the-art mock command and control center for the Florida distribution grid featuring ten high-powered workstations and machine learning capabilities. This sophisticated facility simulates the same Advanced Distribution Management Systems used by FPL, providing students with hands-on experience with real grid management technologies.
GENIE Research Lab: The Grid Energy Intelligence Exploration (GENIE) Research Lab has the ability to model and simulate actual power systems in real time using real-world data to design and validate hardware controllers and machine learning algorithms for increased reliability and resiliency. This, combined with replica hardware and software, allows for the emulation and contingency testing of the AIR Microgrid as well as development of new controllers for management of power system assets.
Training Tomorrow’s Energy Workforce
Our partnership with FPL extends far beyond research laboratories. We’ve developed a leading university-industry talent pipeline in the energy sector, with an estimated 100 FIU alumni from Dr. Sarwat’s lab alone having gone on to work at FPL.
Today, our college runs a specialized cohort program that places approximately six students each semester in technical service roles with FPL’s power delivery division. These students work directly with FPL engineers and technicians on complex power system challenges, from transformer replacements to service planning for new installations. These positions require deep technical knowledge and provide hands-on experience with the sophisticated systems that keep Florida’s grid running reliably.
Most of these students have gone on to work at FPL after graduating from FIU.
From FIU to National Leadership
Beyond the cohort program, the partnership’s impact can be seen in graduates who have gone on to take leadership roles in energy research across the nation.
Take the example of Tèmítáyò O. Olówu MS ’20 Ph.D. ’21. Today, he serves as a Lead Control System Research Engineer at Idaho National Laboratory, one of the nation’s premier nuclear research facilities and a critical hub for energy security research. His rapid ascent from postdoctoral researcher to lead engineer in just over three years demonstrates the caliber of talent our partnership is producing.
During his time at FIU, Olówu served as student leader on multiple groundbreaking FPL collaborative projects. He spearheaded research on the solar array, analyzing its efficiency and energy production while investigating the impacts of renewable integration on grid reliability. He also played a crucial role in designing and implementing the campus microgrid system from conception through operation, ensuring critical infrastructure remained powered during hurricanes.
“The FIU-FPL research partnership gave me something most graduate students never get—experience working directly with utility companies on actual grid challenges,” Dr. Olówu says.
“Most students can only do simulations in labs, but I had already worked on live systems and understood how the industry operates. That experience has been instrumental to everything I do now in advancing America’s energy security.”
Looking Ahead
As we continue our research, we’re optimistic about the innovative, affordable, and environmentally resilient power solutions our Panthers are developing with the invaluable support of FPL. Our collaborative work is not only strengthening Florida’s energy infrastructure—it’s creating a model for how universities and utilities can work together to build a more resilient energy future.
I look forward to staying connected with you as we continue this vital work and highlight more transformative partnerships and groundbreaking research at FIU.