Pittsburgh team flips switch on electric current

More than 120 years ago, George Westinghouse's electric-powered revolution began in Pittsburgh and energized the United States.

Now a University of Pittsburgh team is looking to jump-start the nation's electrical grid -- research that eventually could unplug Westinghouse's work entirely.

Gregory Reed, lead researcher and professor in Pitt's Swanson School of Engineering, is investigating ways to upgrade the country's grid from alternating current to more efficient direct current.

"The major infrastructure we still rely on today is well over 50 years old. It's aging," Reed said, who is working with of 20 graduate students and faculty members on the project.

U.S. utilities generate and transport electricity by alternating current, delivering power over long distances from a central generator. But many modern devices, such as laptops and flat-screen televisions, require a direct current input, which delivers electricity directly via electronic circuitry.

Most people don't realize nearly all their electronic devices have converters to rectify this, Reed said.

"Look around your office and home; it's really every piece of electronics," he said.

The research marks the second time in the nation's history that Pittsburgh would play an integral role in the way Americans get electricity. The debate over the benefits of alternating versus direct current dates to the late 1880s, when tensions soared between Westinghouse, an engineer who advocated for alternating current, and inventor Thomas Edison, who promoted direct current. Their feud became known as the "battle of the currents," said Ed Reis, Heinz History Center's Westinghouse historian.

"Westinghouse looked into direct current and found the shortcoming at the time was that it couldn't transmit very long distances," Reis said. "He knew if they were to be electrifying the whole country, they couldn't have power plants every half-mile or so."

Shortly after Niagara Falls Power Co. hired Westinghouse to harness the waterfall's energy, alternating current became the accepted means of transmission.

A move to direct current transmission could cut back on infrastructure needs such as transformers and triple-wire steel towers, Reed said.

"When you send electricity over a high-voltage system, there is a tremendous amount of loss with the alternate current network," he said.

The changes would help the country move toward use of renewable resources. Because solar and wind power typically are generated in low-populated areas, that power must be moved in large amounts over long distances, Reed said.

Duquesne Light Co., which provides electricity to much of Allegheny and Beaver counties, is supportive of the research, said spokesman Joey Vallarian.

"We are always looking for ways to increase efficiency, deliver affordable power and improve the customer experience," he said.

The Pitt project received a $600,000 grant from the state's Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority. North Carolina State University and the University of Manitoba are collaborating on the project, with support from industry members ABB Inc. and Eaton Corp.

Reed and his team would merge direct current into the U.S. grid at the transport stage. Because they cannot reconstruct the power grid, they're using a simulator program. The premise, Reed said, is not to replace the transmission structure but to improve it while exploring the benefits of direct current.

"We're really at the very beginning with this," he said. "There are a number of challenges," such as developing cost-effective technology and standards for everything from safety to reliability. Reed expects the team to produce a prototype within three years; implementation could happen in five to 10 years.

The collaboration between the engineering industry and universities could create "opportunities for business development and economic growth for the region," he said.

Pitt's research into the consistency of power distribution comes as Japan copes with the shortfalls of its system. The Swanson School of Engineering on Monday will host a panel discussion about the impact of the March 11 earthquake and subsequent tsunami on Tokyo Electric Power Co., which initiated rolling blackouts because it lost 15 percent of its production capability in the country's eastern region.