- Quantum Computing in Power Systems: Alfred University, in partnership with Rochester Institute of Technology, will explore quantum computing applications in managing electrical power systems.
- Grant Support: The project is backed by a $50,000 grant from ISO-New England, an organization focused on ensuring reliable and competitively priced power for New England states.
- Focus on Unit Commitment (UC): The research will apply quantum computing to solve Unit Commitment (UC), a complex daily optimization problem that independent system operators (ISOs) face in managing power systems.
Alfred University has been awarded a $50,000 grant by ISO-New England to explore quantum computing applications in managing electrical power systems. The research project is led by Junpeng Zhan, assistant professor of renewable energy engineering at Alfred University, in collaboration with the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).
The project will investigate how quantum computing can be used to address the Unit Commitment (UC) problem, a complex optimization challenge that independent system operators (ISOs) must solve daily to ensure efficient power management. Quantum computing, leveraging principles of superposition and entanglement, offers the potential to solve such problems much faster than classical computing methods.
This research builds on prior work supported by a National Science Foundation grant, involving Zhan and his graduate students, particularly Mohammadreza Soltaninia, a second-year master’s student in electrical engineering.
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) will serve as the lead investigator on the project. The initiative, supported by ISO-New England, will engage both undergraduate and graduate students in advancing quantum computing applications for power engineering.
