NSF Engines Development Award: Advancing smart grid technologies in Pacific Northwest (OR, ID, WA)

该区域引擎发展奖的重点是通过智能、公平、互操作和安全的生态系统实现能源公平和繁荣。SEQUINS的使命是通过协调和连接太平洋西北地区的学术机构、新成立的企业、风险资本和政府的活动，成为区域创新的中心。该地区的理想定位是在电力部门创造具有国家意义的变革性、行业定义性创新。该地区有各种各样的城市和农村社区，这些社区为部署可再生能源提供了有利条件，但消费者参与项目的能力却未得到充分利用。SEQUINS合作伙伴将基于技术必须可靠和安全的原则，创新智能能源产品和服务。在共同的社会技术框架下，即围绕网络物理安全创新构建的可互操作智能电网架构，在确保公平、隐私和信任的同时，提供电力基础设施的弹性和安全性。SEQUINS团队是一个跨太平洋西北地区的跨学科团队，由31个合作伙伴组成。会员组织代表网络安全和电力行业、公用事业客户、地方政府、高等教育机构、前沿研究人员、受影响的利益相关者和创业社区。领导合作伙伴包括波特兰州立大学、俄勒冈州立大学、俄勒冈大学、QualityLogic、Galois和太平洋西北国家实验室。SEQUINS将通过五项核心活动促进生态系统内的发展和创新：1)创业和业务发展；2)使用启发型研发、网络物理安全和最终用户研究；3)互操作性和标准化；4)咨询、宣传和政策支持；5)劳动力发展。这些活动将促进智能电网技术生态系统的发展，使基于开放通信协议、客户驱动的交易、隐私保护、最先进的网络安全以及向所有实践开放的大规模参与成为可能。SEQUINS将召集利益攸关方通过四个阶段将活动转化为实践：发现-数据驱动的区域能力调查，发现障碍和驱动因素；问题制定-确定缩小能力差距的长期战略目标，确定跟踪目标进展的指标；设计——以实用为导向，务实地寻找解决方案，缩小差距，为实现战略目标创造动力；和选择——创建一个路线图，选择、优先排序和战略性地对齐解决方案建议，然后计划实现它们所需的工作结构和过程。该区域发动机发展奖将促进研究、创业、工业、资本和政府之间的协调，为太平洋西北地区的公平智能电网制定路线图。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Regional Engine Development Award is focused on achieving energy equity and prosperity through an ecosystem characterized as Smart, EQUitable, INteroperable, and Secure. The SEQUINS mission is to become a hub of regional innovation by coordinating and connecting the activities of academic institutions, new and established businesses, risk capital, and governments across the Pacific Northwest. This region is ideally positioned to create transformative, industry-defining innovations in the electric power sector that are of national significance. Within the region is a diverse range of urban and rural communities that exhibit favorable conditions for deploying renewable energy and have the underused capacity for consumer-participation programs. SEQUINS partners will innovate smart energy products and services based on the principle that technology must be dependable and safe. Under a common socio-technical framework, namely interoperable smart grid architectures built around cyber-physical security innovations, that provide resilience and security of electrical infrastructure while ensuring equity, privacy, and trust. The SEQUINS team is an interdisciplinary group of 31 partners across the Pacific Northwest. Member organizations represent the cybersecurity and electric power industries, utility customers, regional governments, higher education institutions, cutting-edge researchers, impacted stakeholders, and the entrepreneurial community. Leadership partners include Portland State University, Oregon State University, the University of Oregon, QualityLogic, Galois, and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.SEQUINS will promote development and innovation within the ecosystem through five core activities: 1) entrepreneurship and business development, 2) use-inspired research and development, cyber-physical security, and end-user research, 3) interoperability and standardization, 4) consulting, advocacy, and policy support, 5) and workforce development. These activities will foster a smart grid technology ecosystem growth that enables large-scale participation based on open communication protocols, customer-driven transactions, privacy protection, state-of-the-art cybersecurity, and open-to-all practices. SEQUINS will convene stakeholders to translate activities into practice through four phases: Discovery - data-driven investigation of regional capacities, discover barriers and drivers; Problem Formulation - identify long-term strategic goals for closing capacity gaps, identify metrics for tracking progress towards goals; Design - engage in a use-inspired, pragmatic search for solutions that close gaps and create movement towards achieving strategic goals; and Selection - create a roadmap that selects, prioritizes, and strategically aligns the solution proposals, then plan the work structures and processes needed for their implementation. This Regional Engine Development Award will facilitate coordination between research, entrepreneurship, industry, capital, and government to scope a roadmap for an equitable smart grid across the Pacific Northwest.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.