Frede Blaabjerg, Professor, Aalborg University, Denmark
Prof. Blaabjerg (S’86–M’88–SM’97–F’03) was with ABB-Scandia, Randers, Denmark, from 1987 to 1988. From 1988 to 1992, he got the PhD degree in Electrical Engineering at Aalborg University in 1995. He became an Assistant Professor in 1992, an Associate Professor in 1996, and a Full Professor of power electronics and drives in 1998 at AAU Energy. From 2017 he became a Villum Investigator. He is honoris causa at University Politehnica Timisoara (UPT), Romania in 2017 and Tallinn Technical University (TTU), Estonia in 2018.
His current research interests include power electronics and its applications such as in wind turbines, PV systems, reliability, Power-2-X, power quality and adjustable speed drives. He has published more than 600 journal papers in the fields of power electronics and its applications. He is the co-author of eight monographs and editor of fourteen books in power electronics and its applications eg. the series (4 volumes) Control of Power Electronic Converters and Systems published by Academic Press/Elsevier.
He has received 38 IEEE Prize Paper Awards, the IEEE PELS Distinguished Service Award in 2009, the EPE-PEMC Council Award in 2010, the IEEE William E. Newell Power Electronics Award 2014, the Villum Kann Rasmussen Research Award 2014, the Global Energy Prize in 2019 and the 2020 IEEE Edison Medal. He was the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS from 2006 to 2012. He has been Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Power Electronics Society from 2005 to 2007 and for the IEEE Industry Applications Society from 2010 to 2011 as well as 2017 to 2018. In 2019-2020 he served as a President of IEEE Power Electronics Society. He has been Vice-President of the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences.
He is nominated in 2014-2021 by Thomson Reuters to be between the most 250 cited researchers in Engineering in the world.
Power Electronics Technology – Quo Vadis
The world is becoming more and more electrified combined with that the consumption is steadily increasing – at the same time there is a large transition of power generation from fossil fuel to renewable energy based which all together challenges the modern power system but also gives many opportunities. We see also now big steps being taken to electrify the transportation – both better environment as well as higher efficiency are driving factors. One of the most important technologies to move this forward is the power electronics technology which has been emerging for decades and still challenges are seen in the technology and the applications it is used. This presentation will be a little forward looking (Quo Vadis) in some exciting research areas in order further to improve the technology and the systems it is used in. Following main topics will be discussed
- The evolution of power devices
- Renewable Generation
- Reliability in power electronics
- Power Electronic based Power System stability
At last some discussions about other hot topics will be given.
Joao Martins, Professor, University of Lisbon, Portugal
Prof. Martins received his MsC in 1996 and his PhD in 2003 from Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal. Currently he is a Full Professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, NOVA School of Sciences and Technology, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal. João Martins is senior researcher at UNINOVA-CTS, Portugal, where he coordinates the Energy Efficiency Group and integrates the Board of Directors. He is the co-author of more than 100 scientific articles in refereed journals and books and more than 200 articles in refereed conference proceedings. João Martins is an active member in various program committees of scientific conferences and serves as an associate editor of IEEE IES Industrial Electronics Magazine, IET Power Electronics and MDPI Energies. He was and is involved as member and/or project coordinator in several national and international research projects. In addition, he is an evaluator of research proposals and projects for several national and European funding agencies. João Martins is a senior member of IEEE, member of CIGRE, effective member of Engineers Association (Portugal) and founding member of the Portuguese Society for Education in Engineering (SPEE). His research interests are mainly in energy efficiency, alternative energies and power quality, intelligent and energy efficient buildings, heritage buildings, energy awareness, smart grid renewables integration.
Power Grids Resilience Towards Extreme Weather Events
The increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events, due to climate change, poses significant challenges to the resilience of power grids globally. Ensuring the reliability and robustness of these critical infrastructures has become a paramount concern for utility operators, policymakers and stakeholders. Multifaceted strategies are necessary to enhance the resilience of power grids against extreme weather phenomena, such as hurricanes, floods, heatwaves, and ice storms. Key approaches include the hardening of physical infrastructure, the integration of advanced grid technologies, the implementation of robust grid management practices, and the adoption of adaptive and proactive maintenance protocols. The deployment of distributed energy resources, the enhancement of microgrids and renewable energy systems, offers a great potential to increase localised power stability during centralised grid failures. Real data based impact forecast is a valuable tool in order to help Distribution System Operators better planing their long term investments in order to increase power grids resilience.
Osman Bülent Tör, Associate Professor, EPRA Energy, Turkiye
Dr. Tör received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara, Türkiye, in 1998, 2001, and 2008, respectively. He currently serves as the CEO of EPRA, of which he has been a founding partner since 2012. He is the author of several high-level journal papers in the power system area and served as the editor of the IEEE Transactions on Power Systems Journal during 2011-2013, specializing in power system planning area. Dr. Tör has also been involved in several international projects, specializing in market modeling, grid modeling, and analysis, integrating renewable energy sources into grids, the flexibility of power systems, and stability and dynamics of power systems.
Power Grids Hosting Ambitious Renewable Generation – Challenges and Solutions
The power sector will need to lead the transition by decarbonising before other sectors of the economy. Clean renewable power will enable an accelerated and more efficient decarbonisation through sector coupling and end-use electrification. To meet rapidly rising demand due in no small part to electrification, power supply and end-use infrastructure will require forward planning that emphasizes system reliability and resilience. Decision making will need to focus on maximising system reliability and stability when selecting new wind and solar power plant locations, or which coal-fired power plants to decommission, rather than individual project output. Strong policies and regulation will provide the right incentives to drive the power system development based on resilience and stability. This includes flexibility incentives on both the supply and demand side; including to unlock the ancillary services that modern wind and solar facilities can provide. This key note will address the following concerns; “What is the RES (Renewable Energy Source) hosting capacity limit of a grid?”; “What is the secure, reliable, and affordable RES hosting capacity limit of a grid?”; “What are the grid flexibility measures?”; “How grid flexibility measures contribute to increasing grid renewable hosting capacity?”; “Roles of battery storage systems in grid flexibility”; “How H2 generation process can be considerd as a demand response process?”; “How interconnections contribute to grid flexibility?; “Technical and regulatory requirements”.