The University of Nevada, Reno College of Engineering has received a gift of $250,000 from NV Energy to support its renewable energy program.

The gift is the first of two in support of the program over the next two years, which will total $500,000. This latest gift brings the total to $1.25 million donated to date by NV Energy for the University’s renewable energy program.

“NV Energy has a long tradition of working with the University's College of Engineering and the renewable energy industry in Nevada,” said Jeff Ceccarelli, senior vice president of Energy Supply for NV Energy." With this donation, we are pleased to have now provided a total of $1.25 million to this unique industry-education partnership which will help further develop the renewable energy field and help serve the energy needs of Nevada far into the future."

The Power and Renewable Energy Engineering Program in the Electrical and Biomedical Engineering Department will greatly benefit from the gift.

“The program’s projected growth, as a result of this gift, will benefit the educational, research and outreach mission of the College of Engineering and the Renewable Energy Center and increase our capability to assume a leadership role as a University and a state in the area of renewable energy,” said Manos Maragakis, dean of the college.

The department will use $200,000 to create a new faculty position for researching renewable energy and developing new applications for the power grid, which moves energy from its source to homes and businesses.

The other $50,000 will be dedicated to workforce development efforts, the development of new online courses and support for the Renewable Energy Center.

“The money will fund research for developing ways to make the power grid more compatible with renewable resources,” said Travis Johnson, manager of Electrical Transportation and Emerging Technologies for NV Energy. “We think it’s important to develop engineering talent locally to help us solve the problems that we will encounter in the future.”