Winds of Change

Interview made by Kino Vera in February 2023.

During my research, I had the opportunity to meet Professor Philip Pong, he is Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, We attended several events related to Clean Energy and his participation in those events brought interesting topics related to the community and the technical part of the project. I visited Professor Pong at his office in Newark, where he works as an Adjunct Professor at NJIT and we had an amazing talking.

“cost of electricity can be reduced because the wind turbines are bigger and taller”

Professor Pong confirms that the cost of electricity can be reduced because the wind turbines are bigger and taller; this is important because the wind speed is more intense at higher levels, and bigger wind turbines have large blades that can harvest more wind energy.

Professor Pong knows that wind, as a natural resource, will be critical, and he highlights the importance of a turbine generator backup because wind energy is not stable as conventional fossil fuel energy; it may be some seasons with more wind than others. Furthermore, he emphasizes that, luckily, New Jersey has a lot of wind resources near our shore.

Professor Pong knows that our electricity demand is increasing and it will continue to raising over time as the economy grows. In 2020, New Jersey had an electricity generation capacity of around 17 gigawatts during summertime, and the goal for 2040 is 11 gigawatts; we have a lot of room to expand the offshore wind capacity, Professor Pong concluded our conversation by suggesting that our state can have even more offshore wind turbines to successfully meet the future increasing need of electricity.