Tennessee Tech intends to secure a contract with a qualified and experienced firm to develop and implement a strategic plan and provide hands-on guidance for the creation of the Small Grid Development Consortium (SGDC), a future nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing grid modeling technologies and distributed energy resources (DERs) for rural electric utilities, startups, and electrical engineering firms. This initiative, currently led by The Center for Rural Innovation (TCRI) in collaboration with premier research institutions within the Appalachian region, focuses on creating innovative grid modeling solutions that support rural utilities in procuring and integrating larger-scale batteries and other DERs. Through partnerships with these research universities and key stakeholders, SGDC will provide essential resources, including modeling data, training, and validation platforms.
