PSUT Portal Biographies
Future Grid as an Enabler of Decarbonization :
Over the last decade, power electronics has become intricately tied to the grid. Over 80% of new generation resources being deployed annually, including PV solar, wind and batteries, now require inverters to exchange energy with the grid. Increasing penetration of inverter-based resources (IBR) dramatically changes the dynamic behaviour of the grid, causing interactions between inverters and other grid elements. Traditional inverters, along with existing controls, are challenged to achieve the level of controllability and functionality needed for a new IBR dominant grid paradigm. This presentation will look at the role that power electronics has to play in this new grid that is emerging and will identify some of the challenges and opportunities that are becoming visible. This presentation provides a comprehensive overview of the decoupling topologies as well as the benefits and drawbacks of these topologies. In addition, a general comparison has also been made in terms of decoupling capacitance/ inductance, additional cost, efficiency and complexity of control, providing a benchmark for future power decoupling topologies. Finally, recent research development in single-port and multiport systems for PV application will be also presented.
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Deepak Divan is Professor, John E Pippin Chair, GRA Eminent Scholar and Director of the Center for Distributed Energy at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA. His field of research is in the areas of power electronics, power systems, smart grids and distributed control of power systems. He works closely with utilities, industry and is actively involved in research, teaching, entrepreneurship and starting new ventures. Dr. Divan also serves as Founder and Chief Scientist at Varentec, in Santa Clara, CA, and was President and CTO from 2011-14, leading the company as it developed its suite of innovative distributed real-time grid control technologies. Varentec is funded by leading greentech Venture Capital firm Khosla Ventures and renowned investor Bill Gates. Dr. Divan is an elected Member of the US National Academy of Engineering, member of the National Academies Board on Energy and Environmental Systems, a Fellow of the IEEE, past President of the IEEE Power Electronics Society, and is a recipient of the IEEE William E Newell Field Medal. He has 40 years of academic and industrial experience, 65 issued and pending patents, and over 400 refereed publications. He has founded or seeded several new ventures including Soft Switching Technologies, Innovolt, Varentec and Smart Wires, which together have raised >$160M in venture funding. He received his B. Tech from IIT Kanpur, and his MS and PhD degrees from the University of Calgary, Canada. ____ |  |
Liuchen Chang is professor at University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, Canada. After receiving his PhD degree in 1991, Liuchen Chang worked briefly in industry and then joined the University of New Brunswick in 1992, and is now a Professor Emeritus. He was the NSERC Chair in Environmental Design Engineering in 2001-2007, and the Principal Investigator of Canadian Wind Energy Strategic Network in 2008-2014. He has been an IEEE volunteer for over 30 years, including serving as VP Conferences in 2017-2020 and President of the IEEE Power Electronics Society in 2021-2022. He is a fellow of Canadian Academy of Engineering. He has published more than 400 refereed papers in journals and conference proceedings. Dr. Chang has focused on research, development, demonstration and deployment of renewable energy-based distributed energy systems. ____ |  |
Issa Batarseh is currently a Pegasus Professor of electrical engineering in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Central Florida (UCF) and serving as the director of the Florida Power Electronics Center. His research interests focus on power electronics as enabling technology in high-frequency, high-efficiency, and smart grid-tied PV energy conversion systems. His research team has been leading the design, development, and commercialization of smart microinverters and other technologies. He has co-founded three start-up companies. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and AAAS, member of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) and has been inducted into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame. Dr. Batarseh is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Florida |  |