Chattanooga, TN - U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann (TN-03), Chairman of the Energy and Water Subcommittee of Appropriations, hosted recently appointed Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL) Director Dr. Stephen K. Streiffer and EPB to announce the new Collaborative for Energy Resilience and Quantum Science (CERQS). The new joint research effort builds on over $180 million in joint research between EPB and ORNL through the Chattanooga-Oak Ridge partnership created by Rep. Fleischmann. CERQS will focus on utilizing Chattanooga’s highly advanced energy and communications infrastructure to develop technologies and best practices for enhancing the resilience and security of America’s power grid while accelerating the commercialization of quantum technologies to power our economy into the future.
“Since I came to Congress, one of my highest priorities has been creating and strengthening the Chattanooga-Oak Ridge Partnership that’s changed East Tennessee and the entire Southeastern region of our great nation. Because of the increased collaboration between outstanding entities in Chattanooga, such as EPB, and organizations in Oak Ridge, like ORNL, major advancements are taking place in science, technology, research – generating hundreds of millions of dollars in economic impact and making Tennessee and the entire Southeastern United States the world leader in new and emerging technologies and industries,” said Rep. Fleischmann. “Today’s major announcement that EPB and ORNL are increasing their partnership to strengthen Chattanooga’s existing first-ever commercially available quantum network, one of only two in the world, is yet another significant milestone that will change how business and research is done. As East Tennessee’s Congressman, I will always continue supporting the Chattanooga-Oak Ridge Partnership and increased collaboration between EPB and ORNL that’s strengthening our state and local economy and keeping America the global leader in the sciences and technologies that will power our future.”
To date, EPB and ORNL have collaborated on nearly 30 funded projects because of Congressman Fleischmann’s Chattanooga-Oak Ridge Partnership. These efforts encompass a wide range of research, including the development of advanced energy models to optimize power distribution, the utilization of predictive algorithms to identify likely energy equipment failures so they can be addressed before customers lose power, and the deployment of dynamic micro-grids that can be rapidly scaled to meet changing energy needs as power supplied by solar and other renewable energy resources changes unpredictably throughout the day. Taken together, these projects reflect efforts to keep energy costs lower for customers while enhancing the reliability and resilience of their energy and communications services.
“There’s tremendous potential for ORNL to build on our work with EPB,” Dr. Streiffer said. “By bringing together our respective research capabilities and cutting-edge deployment, we can substantially advance research and move it toward practical application and commercialization.”
“Working together, EPB and ORNL have advanced technologies that we will eventually be able to deploy for the immediate benefit of our local customers while providing a model for how other utilities can modernize their technology and operations,” said David Wade, CEO of EPB. “Looking to the future, our goal is to work with ORNL on efforts that can have an even more substantial economic impact for the community and customers we serve.”
ORNL and EPB will establish the new Collaborative for Energy Resilience and Quantum Science to focus on four strategic goals:
- National leadership in quantum science and technology, including research breakthroughs that enable the distribution of quantum information over long distances, connection of diverse quantum technologies, including quantum computing for novel data analytics and simulation, commercialization in the supply chain, demonstrated improvements in business productivity, and U.S. leadership in the emerging global quantum economy.
- Energy security innovation, including research, development and deployment of novel quantum and digital technologies to create a next-generation grid energy distribution system that demonstrates improved service resilience and reliability and that is affordable and flexible, environmentally sustainable and cyber-secure for customers.
- Workforce development to support the quantum economy in East Tennessee, in partnership with K-12, community colleges, universities and businesses.
- Economic development that moves quantum technology from research to commercialization over 10 years, positioning East Tennessee to capture investment in the quantum economy and to create new companies in the quantum manufacturing supply chain and business productivity applications development.
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This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://fleischmann.house.gov/media/press-releases/fleischmann-epb-and-oak-ridge-national-laboratory-announce-plans-for-collaborative-for-energy-resilience-and-quantum-science