Power is an all-pervasive, and fundamental force in human relationships and plays a valuable role in social, political, and economic interactions. Power differences are important in social groups in ...enhancing group functioning. Most people want to have power and there are many benefits to having power. However, power is a corrupting force and this has been a topic of interest for centuries to scholars from Plato to Lord Acton. Even with increased knowledge of power’s corrupting effect and safeguards put in place to counteract such tendencies, power abuse remains rampant in society suggesting that the full extent of this effect is not well understood. In this paper, an effort is made to improve understanding of power’s corrupting effects on human behavior through an integrated and comprehensive synthesis of the neurological, sociological, physiological, and psychological literature on power. The structural limits of justice systems’ capability to hold powerful people accountable are also discussed.
Integration of dynamic grid support is required for distributed power systems that are interconnected with medium voltage grids. This study proposes a comprehensive control solution to enhance fault ...ride through (FRT) capability for utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) power plants. Based on positive and negative sequence control schemes and PV characteristics, the approach alleviates dc-bus double-line-frequency ripples, reduces voltage stress on inverter power switches and DC-link capacitors, and minimises undesirable low-order voltage and current harmonics that are presented on the ac side. The study proposes a new feature to achieve superior FRT performance by using the overload capability of grid-tied inverters. A weak electric grid is used for the test case including a wind turbine induction generator, diesel engine driven synchronous generators and various loads. A comprehensive simulation verified the capability of the proposed control schemes for mitigating the voltage dip, enhancing the voltage response and further improving the stability of interconnected distributed generation in reaction to severe unbalanced voltage conditions because of asymmetrical grid faults.
This book offers a collection of 30 scientific papers which address the problems associated with the use of power electronic converters in renewable energy source-based systems. Relevant problems ...associated with the use of power electronic converters to integrate renewable energy systems to the power grid are presented. Some of the covered topics relate to the integration of photovoltaic and wind energy generators into the rest of the system, and to the use of energy storage to mitigate power fluctuations, which are a characteristic of renewable energy systems. The book provides a good overview of the abovementioned topics.
Protection of Low-Voltage DC Microgrids Salomonsson, D.; Soder, L.; Sannino, A.
IEEE transactions on power delivery,
07/2009, Volume:
24, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
In this paper, a low-voltage (LV) DC microgrid protection system design is proposed. The LV DC microgrid is used to interconnect distributed resources and sensitive electronic loads. When designing ...an LV DC microgrid protection system, knowledge from existing DC power systems can be used. However, in most cases, these systems use grid-connected rectifiers with current-limiting capability during DC faults. In contrast, an LV DC microgrid must be connected to an AC grid through converters with bidirectional power flow and, therefore, a different protection-system design is needed. In this paper, the operating principles and technical data of LV DC protection devices, both available and in the research stage, are presented. Furthermore, different fault-detection and grounding methods are discussed. The influence of the selected protection devices and grounding method on an LV DC microgrid is studied through simulations. The results show that it is possible to use available devices to protect such a system. Problems may arise with high-impedance ground faults which can be difficult to detect.
The utilisation of renewable sources brings many benefits to electric power systems, but also some challenges such as the impact that renewable power plants employing power electronics have on the ...grid, which is gaining importance as the penetration of this type of generating stations increases, driven by the construction of large wind or solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants. This study analyses the impact of large-scale PV power plants on a transmission grid for different penetration levels. The analysis considers power plants formed by a number of power converters employing synchronous power controllers (SPCs), that allow them to have a harmonious interaction with the grid, and compares their performance with that of conventional power converter controllers, assuming in both cases that the power plants participate in frequency and voltage regulation. The study addresses both the small-signal stability of the system and its response to large disturbances that alter the active power balance and frequency stability. The results of the analysis show that PV power plants using SPCs are able to limit frequency deviations, improve the oscillation damping, and reduce the stress of other generating units, thus having a beneficial impact on the power system.
Investment on generation system and transmission network is an important issue in power systems, and investment reversibility closely depends on performing an optimal planning. In this regard, ...generation expansion planning (GEP) and transmission expansion planning (TEP) have been presented by researchers to manage an optimal planning on generation and transmission systems. In recent years, a large number of research works have been carried out on GEP and TEP. These problems have been investigated with different views, methods, constraints and objectives. The evaluation of researches in these fields and categorising their different aspects are necessary to manage further works. This study presents a comprehensive review of GEP and TEP problems from different aspects and views such as modelling, solving methods, reliability, distributed generation, electricity market, uncertainties, line congestion, reactive power planning, demand-side management and so on. The review results provide a comprehensive background to find out further ideas in these fields.
Climate change, pollution, and energy insecurity are among the greatest problems of our time. Addressing them requires major changes in our energy infrastructure. Here, we analyze the feasibility of ...providing worldwide energy for all purposes (electric power, transportation, heating/cooling, etc.) from wind, water, and sunlight (WWS). In Part I, we discuss WWS energy system characteristics, current and future energy demand, availability of WWS resources, numbers of WWS devices, and area and material requirements. In Part II, we address variability, economics, and policy of WWS energy. We estimate that ∼3,800,000 5MW wind turbines, ∼49,000 300MW concentrated solar plants, ∼40,000 300MW solar PV power plants, ∼1.7 billion 3kW rooftop PV systems, ∼5350 100MW geothermal power plants, ∼270 new 1300MW hydroelectric power plants, ∼720,000 0.75MW wave devices, and ∼490,000 1MW tidal turbines can power a 2030 WWS world that uses electricity and electrolytic hydrogen for all purposes. Such a WWS infrastructure reduces world power demand by 30% and requires only ∼0.41% and ∼0.59% more of the world's land for footprint and spacing, respectively. We suggest producing all new energy with WWS by 2030 and replacing the pre-existing energy by 2050. Barriers to the plan are primarily social and political, not technological or economic. The energy cost in a WWS world should be similar to that today.
► Replacing world energy with wind, water, and sun (WWS) reduces world power demand 30%. ► WWS for world requires only 0.41% and 0.51% more world land for footprint and spacing, respectively. ► Practical to provide 100% new energy with WWS by 2030 and replace existing energy by 2050.
The ever increasing progress of high-voltage high-power fully controlled semiconductor technology continues to have a significant impact on the development of advanced power electronic apparatus used ...to support optimized operations and efficient management of electrical grids, which, in many cases, are fully or partially deregulated networks. Developments advance both the HVDC power transmission and the flexible ac transmission system technologies. In this paper, an overview of the recent advances in the area of voltage-source converter (VSC) HVdc technology is provided. Selected key multilevel converter topologies are presented. Control and modeling methods are discussed. A list of VSC-based HVdc installations worldwide is included. It is confirmed that the continuous development of power electronics presents cost-effective opportunities for the utilities to exploit, and HVdc remains a key technology. In particular, VSC-HVdc can address not only conventional network issues such as bulk power transmission, asynchronous network interconnections, back-to-back ac system linking, and voltage/stability support to mention a few, but also niche markets such as the integration of large-scale renewable energy sources with the grid and most recently large onshore/offshore wind farms.
This book presents an interesting sample of the latest advances in optimization techniques applied to electrical power engineering. It covers a variety of topics from various fields, ranging from ...classical optimization such as Linear and Nonlinear Programming and Integer and Mixed-Integer Programming to the most modern methods based on bio-inspired metaheuristics. The featured papers invite readers to delve further into emerging optimization techniques and their real application to case studies such as conventional and renewable energy generation, distributed generation, transport and distribution of electrical energy, electrical machines and power electronics, network optimization, intelligent systems, advances in electric mobility, etc.