Electric Power Systems - simulation, operational behaviour, control and protection

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The primary thrust of the research proposal is the development of real-time digital control and protection schemes for improved performance and stability of electric power systems. It includes (i) the study of specific problems relating to electric machine behavior, (ii) analysis, design and development of power system control and protection schemes, (iii) generation of electric power from renewable energy sources and (iv) power system equipment aging assessment for reliable and economic maintenance Power system characteristics are non-linear. They can also change with time due to changes in transmission network configuration, equipment aging, etc. The fixed parameter controllers, designed off-line for one fixed operating condition, cannot track the changes in system parameters in real-time. Thus over time they cannot provide optimal performance even during normal operation and the system performance degrades. For proper operation, such controllers need to be retuned at regular intervals. This requires the plant to be shut down and is expensive. A solution to this is to employ adaptive control algorithms that continuously monitor the dynamic behavior of the system in real-time and automatically adjust the controller parameters on-line in real-time according to the prevalent system operating conditions. Adaptive controllers, called self-tuning controllers, that adjust controller parameters automatically to suit actual system conditions and are particularly suitable for application to electric generating units, have been successfully developed. Use of artificial intelligence techniques, such as fuzzy logic and neural networks, to design adaptive self-tuning controllers that are robust, effective and universal is being investigated for application to both conventional and renewable, such as wind power, electric power generation. Extension of these control algorithms to FACTS devices to improve the operation and stability of interconnected power systems is also being explored. A big concern of the power industry is aging power system assets and lack of techniques in assessing the life cycle of power transformers. Algorithms based on intelligent techniques to mine and evaluate the pool of data available with the newly emerging smart grid technologies that the power utilities can use to commence effective condition based maintenance actions and also prevent unexpected unit failures are being investigated. This could provide enormous savings to the utilities. Concerns over the environmental degradation have started a major move towards both large scale and small scale electrical power generation using renewable energy sources. It has resulted in a whole new direction, including wind farms, small scale distributed generation and micro-grids with new operational, control and protection problems specific to these technologies. A significant part of the research is devoted to various aspects of renewable energy generation, such as safe and reliable protection and control of large wind based generation facilities, voltage and frequency control of small scale micro-grids, and islanding protection of distributed generation sources.