By UW Sustainability | May 18, 2021
Global Renewables Infrastructure Development student group

Global Renewables Infrastructure Development (GRID) is an RSO that works on designing, optimizing, installing, monitoring and assessing the societal impacts of solar energy systems, with a specific focus on projects that advance equitable access to electricity. The group has an interdisciplinary mix of graduate and undergraduate students with backgrounds in engineering, natural sciences, social sciences and more.

GRID is currently looking for new members, and on Tuesday, May 25, at 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. will host a general meeting to provide an overview of the group, discuss the projects mentioned below in greater detail, and answer questions. Interested students should register to receive the Zoom link.

Register here

More information about GRID:

In 2018 and 2019, we installed just over 50 single home solar systems in municipalities in Puerto Rico that were severely impacted by Hurricane Maria, as well as rural indigenous populations in Guatemala that lack access to the electric grid. Throughout the pandemic, we have focused our efforts on remote projects, such as developing optimization software to design a solar and battery storage energy system for a library in Ghana. Our overall aim is to give students hands-on experience in the implementation of clean energy technologies, gain an understanding of the non-technical aspects required for community-based projects to be successful, and to research, identify, and publish best practices for clean energy development projects, with an emphasis on social justice and working co-collaboratively with community members. This summer, we’re excited to pursue local partnerships that advance equity through renewable energy here in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest.

We have three subgroups that work on different aspects of our projects:

  • Technical Team: focuses on the design, installation, data acquisition, and other technical aspects of our systems and projects
  • Social Impacts Team: develops social surveying, survey data visualization and publication of best practices on how to work co-collaboratively with communities
  • Business Team: identifies and pursues fundraising mechanisms for our projects and partners and develops business models for specific projects

As we search for local project opportunities, we anticipate that we will need new and diverse capabilities within our group (ranging from high performance computing to producing outreach and educational materials relating to renewable energy). So if you have an interest in renewable energy and an idea for how your background or skill set may be applicable, we’d love to hear from you! Please sign up or email grid@uw.edu.