Source: U.S. Department of Energy Office of Electricity, 1/13/25
The Office of Electricity’s (OE’s) Microgrid Program recently concluded a scoping study of the campus microgrid at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a focus on integrating a Small Modular Reactor (SMR) into the generation mix. SMRs are advanced nuclear reactors that have a power capacity of up to 300 MW(e) per unit (about one-third the size of traditional nuclear power reactors). The nuclear power industry is rapidly innovating to meet the energy demands of a decarbonizing world. Advanced technologies, such as SMRs, can be deployed as electricity producers on the grid or in tightly integrated energy systems, such as campus microgrids, to provide reliable, dispatchable carbon-free power.