Academic Foundation
PEER-REVIEWED
FOUNDATION.
LurraGrid is built on three years of multidisciplinary research. Not a concept. Not a simulation. A validated system with published prior art and a peer-reviewed engineering model.
Academic Foundation
LurraGrid is built on three years of multidisciplinary research. Not a concept. Not a simulation. A validated system with published prior art and a peer-reviewed engineering model.
Michigan Technological University
The MTU Pumped Underground Storage Hydropower (PUSH) program conducted a three-year, multidisciplinary feasibility study of underground pumped hydro storage in the historic Mather B mine complex in Negaunee, Michigan. The program assembled specialists across mechanical engineering, hydrology, industrial archaeology, energy law, policy research, and mine geometry.
The study included a full SolidWorks three-dimensional geometric model of the Mather B mine complex, hydrological analysis, legal and regulatory review, power market analysis, and community acceptance research. The team's findings confirmed the technical and commercial viability of the site.
The MTU PUSH team are original researchers and inventors. LurraGrid is the commercial application of their published work. They collaborate — LurraGrid does not direct them.
Institutional Funding
The foundational research was funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation under Grant G-2018-11305. The Sloan Foundation is one of the United States' most respected philanthropic institutions, with a long history of funding rigorous scientific and engineering research.
Sloan funding is competitive, peer-reviewed at the grant level, and signals institutional confidence in the research team and thesis. The award covers the full three-year MTU PUSH study period.
Grant Reference
G-2018-11305
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Patent Pending
USPTO Provisional Filing in Process
The LurraCascade Continuity System solves the fundamental interruption problem in conventional underground pumped hydro: power delivery stops when the upper reservoir empties. LurraCascade uses a dual-reservoir threshold switching method to maintain continuous generation by automatically engaging a cascade stage at 20% reservoir level.
Four independent patent claims are in process: the method, the system architecture, the behind-the-meter data center application, and the automated threshold actuator mechanism.
Prior Art Publication