Topic: The age of advanced PV control: Managing variability when maximum power tracking is obsolete 
Time: 20:00 p.m., Friday, Mar. 27th
Speaker: Philip T. Krein
Member, U.S. National Academy of Engineering
Fellow, IEEE
Executive Dean, ZJU-UIUC Institute
Professor, UIUC
Venue: Please scan the QR code of DingTalk and join the online speech
Abstract:
Conventional controls for photovoltaic (PV) solar energy systems seek to deliver maximum energy at unity power factor. There is extensive literature on the general problem of maximum power point tracking (MPPT). However, MPPT imposes maximum variability on the external power grid and nearly eliminates any benefits from forecasts or dynamic grid-interactive controls. PV controls today are the fastest dynamic resources on the grid. This presentation shows better operating strategies, given costs associated with variability. Economic considerations and models are explored. Alternative control pathways set up optimization opportunities. The controls explored here set up PV systems not only for energy delivery, but also as fast resources for mitigating dynamic performance challenges in the grid. Next-generation controls with suitable behavior reduce energy storage requirements dramatically, and PV becomes a beneficial high-speed resource. This talk discusses concepts like dynamic reserves, frequency control, and impact of storage costs. Case studies are explored from a high-resolution full-year database.
About the speaker:
Philip T. Krein received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering and the A.B. degree in economics and business from Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. He was an engineer with Tektronix in Beaverton, Oregon, and then returned to the University of Illinois. At present, he holds the Grainger Endowed Emeritus Chair in Electric Machinery and Electromechanics and is Professor Emeritus and Director of the Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanics. His research interests address all aspects of power electronics, machines, drives, electric transportation, and electrical energy, with emphasis on nonlinear control approaches. He published an undergraduate textbook, Elements of Power Electronics (Oxford University Press, second edition 2015). In 2001, he helped initiate the International Future Energy Challenge, a major student competition involving fuel cell power conversion and energy efficiency. He holds thirty-four U.S. patents with additional patents pending.
Dr. Krein is a registered professional engineer in Illinois and in Oregon. He was a senior Fulbright Scholar at the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom in 1997-98, and was recognized as a University Scholar in 1999, the highest research award at the University of Illinois. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, and in 2003 received the IEEE William E. Newell Award in Power Electronics. From 2003 to 2014, he was a founder and member of the Board of Directors of SolarBridge Technologies, Inc., a developer of long-life integrated inverters for solar energy. The company was sold to SunPower in 2014. He served as Academic Advisor for the Department of Electronic and Information Engineering at Hong Kong Polytechnic University from 2010 to 2015. He is a past President of the IEEE Power Electronics Society, and served as a member of the IEEE Board of Directors. He is Editor-at-Large of the IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics and an Associate Editor of the IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics. In 2015-2016, he is Chair of the IEEE Transportation Electrification Community. He was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering in 2016.
