Sustainability Research Gets Boost from DC Microgrid at U of T Engineering Details Share This Researchers and students at the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering now have access to commercial-scale solar arrays and energy storage facilities – with the ability to collect real-time data – thanks to a new, direct-current (DC) microgrid. Researchers and students at the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering now have access to commercial-scale solar arrays and energy storage facilities – with the ability to collect real-time data – thanks to a new, direct-current (DC) microgrid. Located in the Energy Systems Lab at the Edward S. Rogers Sr. department of electrical and computer engineering (ECE), the microgrid passed its final commissioning stage and became fully operational in October.