Exploring future power system stability

Abstract

As inverter-based resources displace power generation from conventional synchronous machines, power system transient dynamics evolve from being dominated by electromechanical and electromagnetic phenomena to also including human-engineered control loops embedded within power electronic converters. How will these new control loops change the way power system engineers assess and plan for power system stability? This talk seeks to provide some answers to these questions by re-examining some of the assumptions we typically make when evaluating power system stability. I'll discuss some of our recent work examining the role of line dynamics and dc-side converter modeling on power system stability, and discuss some paths forward for modeling and control design.

Speaker Bio

Dr. Duncan Callaway is an Associate Professor of Energy and Resources at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also a faculty affiliate in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and a faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. He received his PhD from Cornell University. He has held engineering positions at Davis Energy Group and PowerLight Corporation, and academic positions at UC Davis, the University of Michigan and UC Berkeley. Duncan teaches courses on electric power systems and at the intersection of statistical learning and energy. His research focuses on grid integration of renewable electricity and models and control strategies for demand response, electric vehicles and electricity storage.