Workshop on Power Electronics-enabled Operation of Power Systems, To Be In Chicago, IL, October 31 - November 1, 2019

Illinois Institute Of Technology, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

Power systems worldwide are going through a paradigm shift. Millions of distributed energy resources (DER) are being connected to power systems, which imposes unprecedented challenges to grid stability, reliability, security, and resiliency. Recent research has shown that it is promising to seamlessly integrate expertise in control systems, power electronics, and power systems to achieve power electronics-enabled operation of power systems to address these issues. This workshop will invite 50 participants from funding agencies, regulatory commissions, utilities, think-tanks, vendors, and universities etc. to offer multidisciplinary perspectives on the paradigm shift of power systems and identify the associated challenges and needs, and potential tools and methodologies. Recommendations will be made after the workshop. This will help speed up the paradigm shift of power systems, improve the stability, reliability, security, resiliency of future power systems, promote sustainability, create jobs, and stimulate economic growth. The fundamental challenge behind this paradigm shift is that future power systems will be power electronics-based, instead of electric machines-based, with a huge number of active, intermittent, non-synchronous, and heterogeneous players. The objective of this workshop is to bring experts from control systems, power electronics, and power systems together to identify fundamental challenges and needs in multidisciplinary research and education in control of power electronics-enabled power systems for enhanced grid stability, autonomy, scalability, operability, reliability, security, and resiliency; strengthen collaborative efforts to tackle the challenges identified; and raise the awareness of funding agencies and policy makers to support and nurture research and educational activities to advance fundamental knowledge, enabling technologies, and workforce in this area. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.