With a $1.23 million grant, researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will be creating a distributed power "test-bed" to study how the electricity distribution grid might be affected by the widespread adoption of clean, renewable energy sources.

The two-year project, which is funded by the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR), is designed to help understand the potential effects of meeting New York state's key alternative energy goal -- by 2012, more than 25 percent of power generation through renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and fuel cells.