Professor
Power Systems Laboratory
Department of Electrical Engineering
University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
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Tuesday, 14 December 2010 (11h20-12h00), EPFL Polydôme

 

Integration of renewable energy sources in the power electric network of the future

The increasing penetration of distributed energy resources (DERs), mostly from renewable sources, involves a substantial evolution in the operational practice of modern and future power networks. The output power of so-called 'dispatchable' DERs (such as hydroelectric units, reciprocating engines, fuel cells etc.) needs to be efficiently scheduled in order to achieve operational objectives compatible with sustainability of energy systems. Opposite to these DERs, photovoltaic plants and wind turbines, are typically considered in the current operation of power systems as 'non-dispatchable' resources.

Within this context, the increasing attention to sustainability constraints is nowadays making the issue of avoiding potential energy wastes of utmost importance. An example is the generation of those renewable energy plants that produce but cannot store energy, and that needs to be curtailed when grid limits are violated (e.g. wind farms). The above issues call for a massive use of advanced, smarter monitoring and control tools for power networks, for the development of new generation/transmission tecnologies, as well as of adequate energy storage systems.

The seminar deals with the vision of the electric power network of the future and provides the description of some of the most recent advancements in the area of real-time network monitoring (in both steady state operation and emergency conditions) and of its real-time operation presently developed at his laboratory.

About the speaker:

Carlo Alberto Nucci was born in Bologna, Italy, in 1956. Degree with honors in Electrical engineering in 1982 from the University of Bologna. Researcher in the Power Electrical Engineering Institute in 1983. Associate professor in the same University in 1992, full professor, chair of Power Systems, in 2000. He is author or co-author of more than 200 scientific papers published in reviewed journals or presented at international conferences. In IEEE he serves as PES Region 8 Representative. In CIGRE he serves as chairman of Study Committee C4 ‘System Technical performance’. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and of the IET. His research interests concern power systems transients and dynamics, with particular reference to lightning protection of power lines, system restoration after black-out and distributed generation. He has been the chair of International Steering Committee of the IEEE PowerTech for the years 2002-2007 and of the IEEE PES Italian Chapter PE31 in Region 8 for the same period. Since January 2010 he is the Editor in Chief of the Electric Power System Research journal, Elsevier. He is doctor honoris causa of the University Politehnica of Bucharest.

Mario Paolone was born in Campobasso, Italy, in 1973. Received from the University of Bologna a degree with honors in electrical engineering in 1998, and the PhD degree from the same University in 2002. He is currently working within the power systems group of the University of Bologna. He is member of the IEEE WG on Lightning performance of distribution lines and of the joint CIGRE-CIRED Working Group "Protection of MV and LV networks against Lightning". His research interests are power system transients, with particular reference to LEMP-interaction with electrical networks, power systems dynamics, power system protections and distributed generation.