Power Electronic Technologies for Distributed Energy Resources (DERs)
Organizers
Liuchen Chang, University of New Brunswick
Sonny Yaosuo Xue, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Hanh-Phuc Le, UC San Diego
Sudip Mazumder, University of Illinois Chicago
Minjie Chen, Princeton University
Yongheng Yang, Zhejing University
Gab-Su Seo, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Jin Wang, Ohio State University
Prasad Enjeti, Texas A&M University
Juan Balda, University of Arkansas
Xiongfei Wang, Aalborg University
Ke Ma, Shanghai Jiaotong University
Jose Fernando Jimenez Vargas, Los Andes University
Abstract
This special session will present a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art technologies of power electronics for distributed energy resources (DERs). The topics and their contents include:
Introduction to Distributed Energy Resources: DER definitions and values to electric grids, market drivers (including climate change, energy transformation, regulatory policies), world DER market growth in terms of the revenue and capacity, DER grid interconnection requirements and standards, DER grid interoperability requirements and standards, and evolving DER technology trends.
Integrated Power Components and Subsystems: Power semiconductor devices: their roles and types including SiC and GaN, photoconductive semiconductor switches based on wideband gap devices, power semiconductor device modules and reliability, passive components, storage technologies, power management, integrated power circuits, power-systems-on-chip, and packaging.
Power Conversion for DERs: Overview of the power electronics technologies and converter-level roadmaps for distributed energy resources, including the roles and requirements of power electronics for DER systems, and design and implementation of future DER systems including solar photovoltaic, wind energy, charging infrastructure, and grid-scale energy storage, with focus on power electronics technologies featuring high efficiency, high power density, and advanced functions that are needed to support the future grid.
Integration and Control of DERs: Summary of the recent developments in integration and control of DERs, covering the state-of-the-art DER technologies for grid integration and control including power system support functions from DERs, control of individual DERs including grid-forming inverter controls, stability of power systems with inverter-based resources, microgrids and networked microgrids, and protection with a high level of converters for distribution and transmission systems.
Security, Protection and Resilience for DERs: Cyber security at the device level and system level, protection (including solid-state protection), reliability, safety, grid system restoration, resiliency-oriented controls, and communication protocols.
MV and HV Technologies for DERs: medium-voltage (MV) and high-voltage (HV) power electronic interfaces for distributed energy resources, including the following main topics: energy storage systems (ESS), PV farms and hybrid PV-ESS, wind farms, solid-state transformers, DC networks, and fast chargers for electric vehicles.
Testing and Validation: Overview of grid emulation technologies including the hardware-in-the-loop testing methods, along with the challenges and prospects in the end.
Short Bio of Organizers
Liuchen Chang joined the University of New Brunswick in 1992 and is a Professor Emeritus at UNB. He is a long-time volunteer for IEEE of over 28 years and is the President of the IEEE Power Electronics Society (2021-2022). He is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. He has published more than 380 refereed papers in journals and conference proceedings. Dr. Chang has focused on research, development, demonstration and deployment of renewable energy based distributed energy systems and direct load control systems.
Yaosuo Xue received the B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from East China Jiaotong University in 1991 and the M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from the University of New Brunswick, Canada, in 2004. He also completed all his Ph.D. work but dissertation at the University of New Brunswick in 2008. From 1991 to 2000, he was an electrical engineer-in-charge in the China’s Ministry of Railways and led traction power systems research and design of the first China’s high-speed railway. In 2005-2006, he worked in Capstone Turbine Corporation as a Lead Power Electronics and Systems Engineer. He was a research scientist and R&D manager in Siemens Corporate Research from 2009 to 2015 and established Siemens Corporate Technology North American power electronics research program. Currently, he leads the Grid Components and Controls Research Group within the USA Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. His research interests include multilevel converters and smart inverter controls for renewable energy and utility applications. He is an Associate Editor or Editor of IEEE TPEL, IEEE JESTPE, and IEEE OAJPE. He served as Program Co-Chair for IEEE WiPDA 2015, IEEE PEDG 2013 and Vice-Chair for IEEE ECCE 2015, 2016, and 2020.
Hanh-Phuc Le is Assistant Professor of ECE at UC San Diego. He received the Ph.D. degree from UC Berkeley (2013), M.S. from KAIST, Korea (2006), and B.S. from HUST, Vietnam (2004). In 2012, he co-founded and served as the CTO at Lion Semiconductor until October 2015. He held R&D positions at Oracle, Intel, Rambus, JDA Tech in Korea and the VAST in Vietnam. His research interests center around DC-DC converters, miniaturized/on-die power conversions, large conversion ratios, smart power delivery and control for a wide range of applications. He has published three book chapters, over fifty journal and conference papers with one best paper award, and is an inventor with 18 U.S. patents (10 granted and 8 pending). He has served the IEEE as Associate Editor for the IEEE JESTPE, TPC Chair/co-chair for the PwrSoC event series, and IEEE CICC. Dr. Le is an IEEE Senior Member.
Sudip K. Mazumder is the Director of Laboratory for Energy and Switching-Electronics Systems (LESES) and a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He has about 30 years of professional experience and has held R&D and design positions in leading industrial organizations and has served as Technical Consultant for several industries. He also serves as the President of NextWatt LLC, a small business organization that he set up in 2008. He is a Fellow of IEEE and a Fellow of AAAS and the EiC-at-Large for TPEL.
Minjie Chen is an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University where he leads the Princeton Power Electronics Research Lab. His research interests include high frequency, high-performance power electronics, power magnetics, and switched-capacitor-based power converters.
Yongheng Yang is a ZJU Professor at Zhejiang University, China. Before this, he was an Associate Professor at Aalborg University, Denmark, where he served as the Vice Program Leader of the Photovoltaic Systems. He was the Chair of the IEEE Denmark Section. His research is focused on advanced control of power electronics converters for grid applications and renewable energy integration. He is the secretary of the IEEE PELS TC5.
Gab-Su Seo received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea, in 2015. He is currently a Senior Engineer at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. At NREL, he currently leads R&D projects focused on the power electronics and power systems application for electric grids with increasing levels of inverter-based renewable generation. His current research interests include power electronics for renewable energy systems and microgrids, hybrid power conversion using wide bandgap semiconductors and switched capacitors, and power systems engineering for grid modernization including grid-forming inverter control for low or zero inertia grids to improve grid resilience and stability. Dr. Seo currently serves as an IEEE Roadmap Working Group Chair, IEEE International Technology Roadmap of Power Electronics for Distributed Energy Resources (ITRD)-WG3 Integration and Control of DER. He is an Associate Editor of IEEE Open Journal of Power Electronics, Associate Editor of Springer Journal of Power Electronics, and Editorial Board Member of Energies.
Xiaonan Lu received his B.E. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 2008 and 2013, respectively. From September 2010 to August 2011, he was a guest Ph.D. student at the Department of Energy Technology, Aalborg University, Denmark. From October 2013 to December 2014, he was a Postdoc Research Associate at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. From January 2015 to July 2018, he was with Argonne National Laboratory, first as a Postdoc Appointee and then as an Energy Systems Scientist. In July 2018, he joined the College of Engineering at Temple University as an Assistant Professor. His research interests include modeling and control of power electronic inverters, hybrid AC and DC microgrids, real-time hardware-in-the-loop simulation, etc. Dr. Lu is the Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, the Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, and the Editor of IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid. He serves as the Vice Chair of the Industrial Power Converters Committee (IPCC) in the IEEE Industry Applications Society (IAS). He is also the recipient of the 2020 Young Engineer of the Year Award in the IEEE Philadelphia Section.
Jin Wang received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University, East Lansing, in 2005. He worked at Ford for two years before he joined the Ohio State University in 2007, where he currently serves as a Full Professor. His research interests include wide bandgap power devices and their applications, high-voltage and high-power converter/inverters, integration of renewable energy sources, and electrification of transportation. Dr. Wang has over 200 peer-reviewed publications and 9 patents. Dr. Wang received the Nagamori Award in 2020, IEEE Power Electronics Society Richard M. Bass Young Engineer Award in 2011, and the National Science Foundation’s CAREER Award in 2011. Dr. Wang is an IEEE Fellow and an active volunteer to IEEE PELS technical activities.
Prasad N. Enjeti received his B.E. degree from Osmania University, Hyderabad, India, in 1980, the M.Tech degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, in 1982, and Ph.D. degree from Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, in 1988, all in Electrical Engineering. He has been a member of Texas A&M University faculty since 1988 and is widely acknowledged to be a distinguished teacher, scholar and researcher. He currently holds the Texas Instruments (TI) Professorship in Analog Engineering. His primary research interests are in advancing power electronic converter designs to address complex power management issues. His recent research focus has been on innovative power electronic solutions to interface renewable energy sources to electric utility. To date he has graduated 35 PhD and 53 MS students. Fourteen of his Ph.D. students currently serve as faculty in institutions at home and across the world while others have leadership positions in industry. He along with his students have over 100 journal publications and received numerous best paper awards from the IEEE. Among the many honors he has received are the IEEE Fellow Award in 2000, Texas A&M University Association of Former Students University Level teaching award in 2001 and the R. David Middlebrook Technical Achievement Award from the IEEE Power Electronics Society in 2012.
Juan Carlos Balda received his B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the Universidad Nacional del Sur (Bahía Blanca, Argentina) in 1979, and his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Natal (Durban, South Africa) in 1986. He was first employed as a researcher and a part-time lecturer at the University of Natal until July 1987. He spent two years as a visiting Assistant Professor at Clemson University, South Carolina. He has been at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville since July 1989 where he is currently a University Professor, Department Head, associate director for applications of the National Center for Reliable Electric Power Transmission (NCREPT) and campus director for the NSF IUCRC Grid-connected Advanced Power Electronic Systems (GRAPES). His main research interests are Power Electronics, Electric Power Distribution Systems, Motor Drives and Electric Power Quality. He is a senior member of the IEEE, a member of the Power Electronics and Power & Energy Societies, and the honor societies Eta Kappa Nu and Tau Beta Pi. He is also the chair of the IEEE PELS TC5 committee and faculty advisor to the local chapter of the IEEE Power Electronics Society.
Xiongfei Wang is a Professor and Leader of Research Group on Electronic Power Grid (eGrid) in the Department of Energy Technology, Aalborg University, and the Visiting Professor at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. His research interests include analytical modeling and control of grid-interactive converters, stability and power quality of power-electronic-based power systems, harmonic analysis and mitigation.
Ke Ma received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering from the Zhejiang University, China in 2007 and 2010 respectively. He received the Ph.D. degree from the Aalborg University, Denmark in 2013, where he became an Assistant Professor in 2014. In 2016 he joined the faculty of Shanghai Jiaotong University, China as a tenure-track Research Professor, and is now serving as the deputy director for Key Laboratory of Control of Power Transmission and Conversion, Ministry of Education, China. His current research interests include the power electronics and its reliability in the application of renewable energy, HVDC, and motor drive systems. He is now serving as Associate Editor for two IEEE Transaction journals, and Vice Chair for two IEEE Tecnical Committees. He was the receiver of “Excellent Young Wind Doctor Award 2014” by European Academy of Wind Energy, and several prized paper awards by IEEE.
José Fernando JIMENEZ VARGAS received the degree in electrical engineering from the Universidad de los Andes (UNIANDES, Bogotá, Colombia) in 1979; the “Diplome d´Études Approfodie” in automatic control from the National School of Aeronautics and Space (Sup’aero, Toulouse, France) in 1983 and the Ph.D. in Industrial Systems from INSA Toulouse in 2000. He is an Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering in UNIANDES and is an associate researcher at the Laboratory of Architecture and Analysis of Systems (LAAS-CNRS) in Toulouse. His main research activities are in Discrete Event Dynamical Systems and Design Automation of Embedded Systems. He has contributed to industrial applications in microgids and distributed power generation.
Speakers and presentations
1. Liuchen Chang, Professor, University of New Brunswick; Sonny Yaosuo Xue, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Introduction to Distributed Energy Resources, and their Market & Standards
2. Hanh-Phuc Le, Assistant Professor, UC San Diego; Sudip Mazumder, Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)
Integrated Power Components and Subsystems: Power Systems on Chip
3. Minjie Chen, Assistant Professor, Princeton University; Yongheng Yang, Professor, Zhejiang University
Power Conversion for DERs
4. Gab-Su Seo, National Renewable Energy Laboratory; Xiaonan Lu, Assistant Professor, Temple University
Integration and Control of DERs
5. Jin Wang, Professor, Ohio State University; Prasad Enjeti, Professor, Texas A&M University
Security, Protection and Resilience for DERs
6. Juan Balda, Professor, University of Arkansas
MV and HV Technologies for DERs