A special ceremony at The Ohio State University Friday marked the start of construction for a new hub of energy research and technology incubation.
Ohio State President Kristina M. Johnson joined National Science Foundation Director Sethuraman Panchanathan; Vice President and Head of Major Partnerships for ENGIE North America Serdar Tufekci and Representatives Joyce Beatty and Troy Balderson for the groundbreaking ceremony for the Energy Advancement and Innovation Center (EAIC).
“The Energy Advancement and Innovation Center will be the epicenter of convergent research,” Johnson said. “It will be an opportunity generator that provides the tools necessary for us to be effective global citizens of the 21st century who make the world a better, healthier and a more sustainable place to live.”
The facility will be a platform for Ohio State faculty members, students, alumni, ENGIE Buckeye Operations team members, local entrepreneurs and industry experts to work together on the next generation of smart energy systems, artificial intelligence, renewable energy and green mobility solutions.
“The Energy Advancement and Innovation Center will provide the critical infrastructure needed for researchers and industry partners across Ohio and the entire United States to work together across disciplines to build a better, brighter, more sustainable future for us all,” said Panchanathan.
Jay Sayre (left), Assistant Vice President in the Office of Research and IMR Director of Innovation, and Serdar Tufekci, Vice President and Head of Major Partnerships for ENGIE North America.
Ohio State researchers are already working to advance next-generation convergent energy research and tech development at IMR’s Energy Innovation Lab at Nanotech West Laboratory. Leading the lab are Jung-Hyun Kim and Vicky Doan-Nguyen, both of whom are assistant professors hired through the Materials and Manufacturing for Sustainability Discovery Theme, operated by the Institute for Materials Research (IMR).
The Visionary Project Advisory Committee was formed early in the conceptual stages to guide the university in the governance of the center’s development. Jay Sayre, who serves as Assistant Vice President in the Office of Research and Director of Innovation in the Institute for Materials Research (IMR), chairs the committee, which is composed of Ohio State, OSEP, and Columbus community members.
“We envision the Energy Advancement and Innovation Center as a vehicle to propel innovation beyond the R&D stage to commercial successes in the market where everyone can benefit,” Sayre said. “This will be a place where our students will benefit by connecting with the creativity of faculty, staff, ENGIE researchers, and our local community to leave a lasting, impactful legacy on our academic mission.”
Read more from IMR: Emerging Innovation District set to spur economic growth, advance energy research.
The new center is co-located with a five-story, 305,000 square foot Interdisciplinary Research Facility in the fast-growing Innovation District. A third building, the Wexner Medical Center Outpatient Care West Campus, is also under construction in the district with a total of more than 750,000 gross square feet being built through the three projects.
“Four years since the beginning of our partnership with Ohio State, we are well into our transformational journey of a zero-carbon campus in Columbus. Today marks a new milestone, as the innovations which will come from this new endeavor will push us further, and faster, towards a zero-carbon world,” said Tufekci.
The total project budget is $48.4 million for the four-floor building. The project is a cornerstone of the university’s public-private partnership with Ohio State Energy Partners (OSEP), which has committed $50 million for the project, including $36.7 million toward design and construction costs.
Design for the 66,000-square-foot building will prioritize strategies to reduce energy usage. The project will include the installation of a direct current (DC) microgrid with future plans to install photovoltaics/solar panels on the roof.
The facility will include a 210-seat seminar room and a 96-seat cafe to serve the EAIC and nearby Interdisciplinary Research Facility. Additional building features include:
- Approximately 8,000 square feet of dedicated lab space
- 25,000 square feet for collaborative learning and gathering space
- 1,500 square feet reserved for focused workspace
- 3,000 square feet shelled for program expansion
OSEP, a consortium made up of ENGIE North America and Axium Infrastructure, was established in 2017 when the Board of Trustees approved a 50-year agreement and lease for comprehensive energy management to strengthen the university’s sustainability while providing new resources for the university’s academic mission, including space to expand work in research in artificial intelligence, energy and smart systems.
This article was originally published on Ohio State News, with additional information provided by IMR Communications Coordinator Mike Huson.