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Date:  Tue, May 06, 2008
Time:  10:30-11:30
Location:  Holmes 389
Speaker:  Dr. Wei Qiao, Georgia Institute of Technology

 

Abstract: 

Currently, electric energy constitutes about 40% of total US energy consumption. This ratio is still continuously growing. The electric energy generation, transmission, distribution and utilization forms a large and complex system which is called the electric power system. Because of the worldwide environmental problems and a possible energy crisis, the nation and the world will face critical challenges on electric energy security and sustainability. In addition, because of the new constraints placed by the environmental and economical factors as well as by the availability of energy sources, the trend in electric power system planning and operation is toward maximum utilization of existing infrastructure with tight system operating and stability margins. This trend will bring new challenges to electric energy security and reliability. In order to achieve sustainable development, these energy-related challenges require innovative solutions, such as new technologies for clean and renewable electric energy generation and distribution, efficient energy utilization, and enhancing control and stability of the electric power system. 

This seminar will present new developments in control and optimization techniques to provide better electric energy security, reliability and sustainability. These new developments in control and optimization will be illustrated with several case studies: 1) Wind speed estimation based sensorless output maximization control for wind power generation; 2) Advanced control of permanent magnet machines for maximum wind power generation with optimal efficiency; 3) Missing-sensor-fault-tolerant control for FACTS device; 4) Optimal wide-area coordinating control for electric power system. 

Biography: 

Wei Qiao received the B.Eng. and M.Eng. degrees in electrical engineering from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, in 1997 and 2002, respectively, and the M.S. degree in high performance computation for engineered systems in 2003 from Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA). Since 2003, he has been with the Georgia Institute of Technology and is currently completing a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering. From 1997 to 1999, he was an electrical engineer in China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec).  His research interests include renewable energy generation and grid integration, power system modeling, dynamics, control, stability and performance optimization, power electronics and its application in energy conversion, transmission and distribution, and the application of computational intelligence in power systems. He is the first author of 2 book chapters, 10 refereed journal papers, and over 20 refereed international conference proceeding papers.  Mr. Qiao was the recipient of the first prize in the student paper and poster competition of the IEEE Power Engineering Society (PES) General Meeting, Montreal, QC, Canada, in June 2006.