Large Scale Solar Energy Integration to Power Grid
Speaker: Mr Richard Yan
When: 2009-12-09 09:00:00
Venue: 78-420
Host: Prof. Tapan K Saha
Abstract:Greenhouse gas emissions have become hazardous for the environment. Countries around the world have taken measures to tackle this problem by mandating or encouraging the use and development of renewable energy including wind, solar, tide, wave, geo-thermal and hydro power. These clean energy resources can not only alleviate the greenhouse effect, but also bring energy diversities and reduce energy dependence on fossil fuels. However, at the same time they can cause undesired problems. In general, small renewable energy units are scattered in electrical networks forming distributed generators, but the existing networks were not designed for any such applications when they were constructed. Compared with conventional generators, they have some unique characteristics such as the capability of producing reverse power flow, geographically dispersed configuration, autonomous control and intermittency, and these which result in various issues that have never been encountered before. Such issues include voltage rise, reverse current flow, micro-grid (islanded) operation, protection device malfunction, optimal placement, storage demands, permissible penetration level and transient stability.
In this seminar, the impacts of energy storage on power networks will be investigated. Storage equipments can smooth distributed generator intermittent influences, suppress reverse current
flow, shave load profile, and stabilize voltage and frequency - but storage installed in an improper place may not function as expected and require larger size. Meanwhile, capacious storage can solve almost every problem; however, electrical network performance may not linearly increase with storage size and financial investment. Therefore, the intention is to
develop a new method to determine necessary storage capacity and allocation. This method will consider both static and dynamic factors, for example voltage, frequency, ramp rate, storage limits, spinning reserve, transient response and cost. The ultimate goal is to integrate
more photovoltaic systems into the existing power grid without affecting its safety, stability and reliability. Micro-grids and smart grids heavily rely on comprehensive communication and control to maintain normal operation. This seminar will address power network stability of partial and
temporary loss of their communication and control functions. Possible solutions will be proposed to handle the unstable situations.
Biography:Richard Yan was born in China and obtained his Bachelor degree in Automation (University of Science and Technology, Beijing, China) in 2004. After graduation, he worked in a company, which develops products for thermal generating stations (e.g. online furnace leakage monitoring system, systems for monitoring carbon percentage in exhaust gases using microwave, ...) for 9 months. He then came to Australia and completed his Master Degree (by coursework) and Honors Degree (1st class Honours) from the Australian National University. Currently he is pursuing his PhD in Power & Energy Systems research group.
Type: PhD confirmation Seminar
Contact:Tapan Saha (saha@itee.uq.edu.au)