CAREER: Power Quality Research and Education: A New Power Engineer for Today's Energy Challenges

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The proposed project aims at establishing power quality as catalyst for the development and renovation of power engineering research and education at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez (UPRM). The proposed power quality research and education activities will prepare a new kind of power engineer, able to meet the energy challenges of the 21st century. Power quality at UPRM will link power systems, power electronics and contemporary energy issues in order to create an integrated perspective of today's electric energy systems. The multidisciplinary nature of power quality problems presents a unique opportunity to renovate power-engineering curriculum and inspire students to engage in energy systems research. Research tasks are centered on the power quality impact of power electronics in the electric system, with application to alternate energy sources. Photovoltaic (PV) systems will be chosen as a representative alternate source. Research activities include nonlinear device modeling for power quality studies; improvement and development of tools to quantify power quality events; implementation and testing of scaled PV systems including various grid-interface options; validation of models/indices using the scaled systems; consideration of interconnection issues such as the power quality impact of different grid-interface options and the interaction with other loads in the system. The establishment of a PV testing facility will support research in distributed generation and policy issues such as deregulation.