Tuesday, December 11 – End of Semester Coffee Break

CURENT is having an End of Semester Coffee Break tomorrow (Tues., Dec 11) in MHK 554 from 11am to 12pm. Please join us for coffee, conversation and chance to say congratulations to our most recent graduates!

CURENT’s Annual Industry Day and NSF/DOE Site Visit

CURENT’s Annual Industry Day and NSF/DOE Site Visit is Dec. 4-6.

See the event page for all the details. 

Hantao Cui and Alec Yen Present Papers at 2018 NAPS Conference

CURENT would like to acknowledge students Hantao Cui and Alec Yen. They attended the North American Power Symposium (NAPS) 2018 that was held from September 9-11, 2018 in Fargo, North Dakota. Hantao Cui, a PhD student advised by Dr. Fran Li, presented his paper entitled “ANDES, a Python-Based Cyber-Physical Power System Simulation Tool.” Alec Yen, an undergraduate third-year student advised by Hantao and Dr. Kevin Tomsovic, presented his paper entitled, “CXSparse-Based Differential Algebraic Equation Framework for Power System Simulation.” The papers will be published in IEEE Xplore.

NAPS is a conference aimed towards graduate students from universities across North America. The conference was well-organized by individuals at North Dakota State University, as the entirety of the event included numerous paper sessions, banquets, and even a tour of the surrounding region. Prior to the conference, a tour of Lake Itasca in north central Minnesota was included. During the conference, Masters and PhD students presented research from their accepted papers in scheduled paper sessions, covering a wide array of topics in power systems, from dynamics and control to operations and planning to communications.

Hantao’s research presented the open-source simulator, ANDES, as part of the Large-Scale Test Bed (LTB), for communication network-in-the-loop cyber-physical simulation. The presentation showed the board impact that the CURENT testbeds have on the research community and the industry.

Alec’s research examined the optimization of differential algebraic equation (DAE) frameworks that are used in power system simulators. The acceptance of his paper to a conference and subsequent presentation and publication as an undergraduate student is a considerable achievement, signifying excellence in education from CURENT’s REU program.

Alec states.“Doing undergraduate research under CURENT has been a great experience. I enjoyed the excitement of doing research and motivating myself to publish and present at a conference. I learned a great deal at every step of the publication process, from drafting to revising to presentation to publication. The REU program at CURENT has been very supportive, and I am indebted to my graduate student mentor Hantao for advising me and suggesting that I publish my research.”

Congratulations to both these students for their fine work!

Alec Yen and Hantao Cui at NAPS 2018 in Fargo, ND 

Power Systems versus Power Electronics? It’s a Tie!

The CURENT SLC at the University of Tennessee Knoxville held a Power Systems versus Power Electronics soccer game on Friday, September 14 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm at the TREC Intramural soccer field. Twenty-three power systems and power electronics athletes showed up, each team hoping to claim the CURENT soccer title for their own. In the end, the game was a tie of three to three. Everyone was too tired to break the tie, so a rematch is on the table for another day.

ALSET Lab Opens at RPI

The ALSET Lab – A Laboratory for the Digital Power Grid of the Future – opened at RPI on August of 2018. It is located on the 6th floor of the Johnson Engineering Center.  Dr. Luigi Vanfretti is the lead on this project and came on board a year ago as a CURENT faculty member. The lab uses both software and hardware platforms to simulate renewable energy flow to a “smart” grid system and looks at different ways to integrate renewable energy and to make the grid smarter at the same time.

Download flyer

ALSET home

Center for Future Energy Systems (CFES)

ORNL and University of Tennessee (CURENT) Included in Latest “R&D 100 Awards” Finalists

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the University of Tennessee (UT) are among finalists that R&D Magazine has just announced for its annual “R&D 100 Awards.”  

ORNL was named as the primary or sole developer on six of the recognized technologies and was a co-developer on two more including something named the “Mobile Universal Grid Analyzer” where UT (CURENT with Dr. Yilu as PI) was the primary developer.

Read.

2018 Industry Day and NSF/ DOE Site Visit is Dec. 4-6, 2018

The 2018 Industry Day and NSF/ DOE Site Visit will be held on December 4-6, 2018 at the downtown Hilton in Knoxville, TN.  Industry Day will be on Tuesday, December 4 and the NSF / DOE Site Visit will take place on Wednesday and Thursday, December 5 and 6. Stay tuned for further details. 

Dr. Li Receives Two Honors at IEEE PES General Meeting 2018

CURENT would like to acknowledge and congratulate Dr. Fran Li, the UTK Campus Director of CURENT and a James McConnell Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). Dr. Li received the following two honors at IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) General Meeting 2018 that held August 4-9, 2018 in Portland, OR.

(1) Dr. Li’s paper entitled “Potential of Wind Power to Provide Flexible Ramping Products and Operating Reserve” was selected as a Best Conference Paper (top 5% of the conference submissions). Dr. Li co-authored this paper with his former Ph.D. student, Dr. Xin Fang, who is now working at National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

(2) As the Vice Chair of the Power System Operation, Planning and Economics (PSOPE) committee, Dr. Li is a co-recipient of the “Technical Committee of the Year” award by IEEE PES.  

Congratulations to Dr. Li!

Dr. Hua “Kevin” Bai Kicks Off Power and Energy Seminar Series on August 24th

Dr. Hua “Kevin” Bai, CURENT Associate Professor, will be the first speaker of this semester’s Power and Energy Seminar Series.  The seminar will take place in Min H. Kao 404 on Friday, August 24 from 12:20pm to 1:10pm.  The seminar will also be available through WebEx, info towards bottom of page.  

Presenter: Dr. Hua “Kevin” Bai, CURENT Associate Professor, UTK

Title: Maximizing the Potential of Wide-bandgap Devices for EV Battery Chargers

Abstract: Wide-bandgap devices (WBG) have been proven to be effective in reducing the size and increasing the efficiency of power electronics systems, for instance, the on-board charger (OBC) of electric vehicles (EVs). The next-step pursuit of power electronics scholars is how to maximize WBG potential while keeping the cost competitive. In this presentation, the charger optimization is reviewed from two aspects. From the device-level aspect, a hybrid switching module containing GaN HEMTs and Si MOSFETs is built and tested, aiming at the cost reduction. From the system-level aspect, the vehicle-to-home (V2H) or vehicle-to-load (V2L) feature is added to the EV OBC, proving an effective way of dealing with a grid blackout.

Bio: Dr. Kevin Bai received his B.S. and Ph.D. degree from the Department of Electrical Engineering at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China in 2002 and 2007, respectively.  Dr. Bai was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan-Dearborn from 2007 to 2010, assistant professor of the Robert Bosch endowed professorship at Kettering University (former General Motor Institute) from 2010 to 2016, and associate professor at University of Michigan-Dearborn from 2017 to 2018. He recently joined the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, as associate professor. His research interests include power electronics with motor drive systems, battery chargers in electric vehicles, accessory power modules and battery management systems. He is the author of two books, 50 IEEE journal papers, 50 conference papers and 11 industrial patents. He is also the associate editor of the SAE International Journal of Alternative Powertrains.

Dr. Chen to Host RCN-SEES-SHBE Workshop in Singapore

Dr. Chien-fei Chen will host a workshop in Singapore on January 28-29, 2019 as part of the RCN-SEES-SHBE: Predictive Modeling Network for Sustainable Human – Building Ecosystems International Workshop Series. The workshop will be held at the Kent Ridge Guild House at the National University of Singapore. 

Important dates and info:

Registration Open October 1st until December 31st, 2018
Registration Fee: US$125
Abstract Submission Deadline November 1st
RCN-SEES-SHBE Intl. Workshop January 28-29, 2019

First Patent for CURENT Issued for Power Grid Monitoring

CURENT has been issued its first patent for Power Grid Monitoring

A patent titled as Mobile Platform Phasor Measurement Unit Based on Electric Field Sensor (Patent No.: U.S. 10,024,897) and filed by Dr. Yilu Liu’s group was issued on July 17^th 2018. This is the first issued patent for CURENT and was worked on over the past four years by: Dr. Yilu Liu, Dr. Wenxuan Yao, Dr. Lingwei Zhan, Dr. Wei Gao, and Mr. Haoyang Lu.

This patent describes a non-contact and portable monitoring device that will assess the health of electric power grid in real time. It uses a wireless electric field sensor to capture the power grid signal and a mobile platform (e.g., smartphone and tablet) to perform phasor calculation. The real-time measurements can then be transmitted to the data server via WIFI or 4G LTE network and saved in the local memory of mobile platforms for data backup. By utilizing the new technology in this patent, it is promising that wide deployment of wireless measurement devices will be achieved in future smart grids. With the advantages of easy installation, portability, and convenience, this mobile monitoring device has a great market potential in industrial applications as a cost-effective solution for power grid monitoring.

Coffee and Conversation 

Topic: High Density Presentations

Join Dr. Jian Huang and CURENT students for High Density presentations and coffee. 

Date: Tuesday, July 3

Where: MHK 124

When: 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm 

See the CURENT calendar for more news and seminars.

Dr. Davis in the University of Tennessee News

Dr. Wayne Davis was recently the subject of an article entitled “Journey for Davis Was Anything but Certain” in the University of Tennessee News. Read article. 

Saeed Anwar Wins 3rd Place NSF Innovation Award in EcoCAR3 Competition

CURENT graduate student Saeed Anwar won 3rd place NSF Innovation Award in the EcoCAR 3 Competition. The objective of the Year 4 Competition Innovation Presentation is to assess the progress each team has made on their innovation activities throughout the year. Innovation projects should allow for the inclusion of new or innovative technologies, reward teams for taking unconventional approaches or risks, emphasize new automotive technologies to the public, and discuss the impact of the technology on the industry and market. The award was given for the Innovation Presentation of Team Tennessee and is centered around the integrated converter research that Saeed is working on at UT. 

EcoCAR UT: http://ecocar3.org/tennessee/about-us/

EcoCAR 3 Y 4 result Link: http://ecocar3.org/year-two-competition/awards/

The ceremony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R5elFLyU3w (Innovation award time 1:00:00 – 1:02:00)

EcoCAR Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/doeavtc/sets/72157694815488761

Congratulations Saeed!

Dr. Zheyu Zhang Joins GE

CURENT congratulates Dr. Zheyu Zhang on his recent employment with GE Global Research Center in Niskayuna, NY.  We will miss him and we know that GE is lucky to have his knowledge and expertise in their ranks. Below is a photo from Dr. Zhang’s farewell lunch.

CURENT Research Assistant Jacqueline Adams is Fulbright Recipient

Jacqueline Adams, a Research Assistant for Dr. Chien-fei Chen, is one of 19 UTK students who have been offered Fulbright US Student Program Awards for the 2018–19 academic year to study, research, and teach in cities around the world. Jacqueline has worked on interdisciplinary research concerning social-psychological factors, energy behaviors and demand response for the past two years and has received a Fulbright Scholarship in Budapest this fall to conduct conduct research on how to encourage Budapest residents to adopt technology to limit home energy use. Jacqueline will be headed to Budapest for the upcoming year.  Congratulations to Jacqueline!!!

Read article in UT News. 

Read article in Chattanoogan.

SLC Nollywood Film Party on Wednesday, April 11th

SLC Nollywood Film Party on Wednesday, April 11th from 5:00pm to 6:30pm in MHK 121. Watch a Nollywood Movie and have some West African snacks. Everyone is welcome, but please RSVP for food: bit.ly/nollywoodparty

Nollywood is the second largest film industry in the world. Read more. 

CURENT Coffee and Conversation with Dr. Earnest Brothers on Tues, April 10th

Join CURENT and Dr. Earnest Brothers for coffee and conversation on Tuesday, April 10th, 2:30- 3:00 pm in MHK 121. We’ll have coffee, tea and snacks as well a casual discussion about mentorship and mentoring. 

Dr. Ernest Brothers is Associate Dean of the Graduate School and Director of the Office of Graduate Training and Mentorship at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He is also the  NIMBioS Associate Director for Diversity Enhancement

A native of Greenville, MS, Dr. Brothers received a bachelor of science degree in chemistry and a master of science in natural science from Delta State University, a master of public policy and administration degree from Mississippi State University, and a PhD in urban higher education from Jackson State University.

Before arriving at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Dr. Brothers served as the Peach State Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (PSLSAMP) Executive Director at the University of Georgia. During his tenure in Mississippi, Dr. Brothers served as the Louis Stokes Mississippi Alliance for Minority Participation (LSMAMP) Site Coordinator/Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Delta State University. He also worked at the Mississippi State Chemical Laboratory as an Herbicide/Pesticide Residue Chemist, and a Laboratory Project Director for the Analytical Food Safety Laboratory (ASFSL), located in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Mississippi State University.

Dr. Brothers’ research interests include retention of underrepresented minorities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) at majority institutions, managing diversity, and cross-culture mentoring.

UTK Faculty Page 

Tickle COE Holds Speed Mentoring Event for Undergraduates

Tickle COE will hold a Speed Mentoring Event for Undergraduates on Thursday, April 5th with Engineering Industry Leaders from the COE’s Advisory Board.  Please reserve your space in advance. 

http://www.engr.utk.edu/speed-mentoring/

Coffee Break and Seminar with Dr. Yohei Yamaguchi – Tuesday, March 27 

There will be a coffee break and seminiar with Dr. Yohei Yamaguchi on Tuesday, March 27.  Dr. Yohei Yamaguchi will present a seminar on Tuesday, March 27, 2018 in MHK Room 124 from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm.  Prior to the seminar, CURENT will hold a coffee break from 2:30 pm to 3:00 pm. We encourage you to come to the coffee break and stay for the seminar. 

Presenter: Dr. Yohei Yamaguchi, Osaka University

Title: Activity-based Community/Urban-scale Modelling of Building Energy Demand

Where: MHK 124 

Time: Tuesday, March 27, 2:30 pm – 3:00 pm coffee break, 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm seminar

Abstract: The building sector is a significant contributor to national carbon emissions and has considerable potential in fostering reduction and flexibility in energy demand and carbon emissions. Community/urban-scale modelling of building energy demand has attracted attention worldwide as it allows the quantification of potential changes in energy demand and evaluates the performance of energy systems. It also provides a scope through which to explore technical options and prospective pathways to develop sustainable energy systems. One of the most critical weaknesses of conventional approches is that the lower time and spatial resolution than those required to address socio-technical issues. We propose activity-based modelling, to overcome these weaknesses, in which the activity and practice of people in everyday life is simulated and building energy demand is quantified accordingly. Energy demand models integrating people’s activity and practice improves spatio-temporal resolution of models by quantifying energy demand in a bottom-up approach, through which the structure determining energy demand in the real world is replicated. This further enhances the capabilities of community/urban-scale models (e.g. consideration of demand response in power system analysis). This presentation briefly explains modelling methodologies and their applications to tackle the above mentioned challenges. 

Bio: Yohei Yamaguchi is an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University. He received his Ph.D. degree in 2006 from Department of Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University. He worked as a post-doc researcher in Research Institute for Sustainability Science, Osaka University, from 2006 to 2008 before joining the present division as an assistant professor. He has been working as an Associate Professor since 2015. In 2014, he co-chaired the Asia Building Simulation Conference.

Research Interest: The building sector is a significant contributor to national carbon emissions and has considerable potential in fostering reduction and flexibility in energy demand and carbon emiossions. Dr. Yamaguchi’s research interest involves development of modelling methodologies to support challenges such as these in the  building sector and in energy systems. His research includes 1) stochastic modelling of daily activity of people, 2) analysis on people’s activity and practice, 3) community/urban-scale energy demand modelling of commercial and residential buildings, and 4) analysis on the potential carbon reductions and electricity demand flexibility for demand response. 

IEEE and CURENT Sponsor Alumni Panel Session on Friday, March 23rd

IEEE and CURENT will sponsor an Alumni Panel Session on Friday, March 23rd at 5pm. The panel will be held in MHK 404. Participants will hear from successful UTK EECS graduate student alumni who will be discussing their transition from graduate programs, both PhD and MS, into professional careers.  Attendees will hear from a founder/CEO, an Applications Engineer, a Power Systems Research Engineer, a US Patent Examiner and more. This a great networking and learning opportunity. Dinner will be provided. Please rvsp with the QRC code or contact Maeve Lawniczak. 

GMLC Industry Meeting on Sensor Technology Needs & Advancements for the Modern Grid

The next GMLC Sensor Industry Meeting will be in Atlanta at Georgia Power’s headquarters on April 3-4, 2018. Southern Co. is both hosting the meeting as well as presenting during our utility case studies session along with NIST. The primary objective of the meeting is to present and discuss the sensor technology roadmap developed by the GMLC Sensing & Measurement Strategy Project team. The meeting will also consist of presentations by the three GMLC Sensing & Measurement projects  including: (1) Advanced Sensors,  (2) Data Analytics and Machine Learning, and (3) Sensing and Measurement Strategy. The leads of the working groups that worked on the sensor technology roadmap will be presenting on each of their areas covering devices, communications, and data analytics.

If interested, please contact D. Tom Rizy, GMLC Sensing & Measurement Strategy Project, dtom@ornl.gov

CURENT Coffee Break, Tues. March 6th

It’s a CURENT Coffee Break!

All CURENT faculty, students and staff are invited to a coffee break on Tues., March 6th from 10am to 11am in MHK 124. Join us for coffee, tea, cookies and conversation and meet the new CURENT students and staff members. We’ll see you there!

NERC Report – Oct. 9, 2017 Canyon 2 Fire Disturbance 

NERC – Disturbance Report Posted

October 9, 2017 Canyon 2 Fire Disturbance

On October 9, 2017, the Canyon 2 Fire caused two transmission system faults east of Los Angeles. Both faults resulted in the reduction of solar photovoltaic (PV) generation across a wide region of the Southern California Edison footprint. Approximately 900 MW of solar PV resources were lost as a result of these events. NERC and the Western Electricity Coordinating Council gathered information related to performance of the solar PV fleet, working closely with the Generator Owners, Generator Operators, and inverter manufacturers at the affected generating facilities. The disturbance report describes the event analysis, key findings, and recommendations moving forward to ensure reliable operation of the BPS.

 An informational webinar discussing the Key Findings and Recommendations from the Canyon 2 Fire Disturbance and the Blue Cut Fire Disturbance was held on February 15, 2018.  The presentation and streaming webinar have also been posted on the NERC website.

Click here for: 900 MW Fault Induced Solar Photovoltaic Resource Interruption Disturbance Report 

Click here for: Webinar Presentation | Streaming Webinar

For more information or assistance, please contact Levetra Pitts at levertra.pitts@nerc.net or 404-446-2575.

GEIRINA Offers Summer Internships

We received a notice from GEIRINA that they have multiple Summer Internship positions. The interns will be working on exciting R&D projects in the area of data analytics, software/hardware development, machine/deep learning, and Power Electronics. For description and requirements, please check [This Link] for details.

Interested candidates can send a complete application package to: di.shi@geirina.net. Before sending your application, please make sure you carefully read the description document to make sure you qualify. GEIRI is located in San Jose, CA. Here is a link to the GEIRINA website. https://geirina.net/research/2

From Dr. Shi of GEIRNA:

GEIRINA is a research institute focusing on developing innovative solutions in the area of electric power and energy systems. GEIRINA is affiliated to State Grid Corporation of China, which is the largest state-owned electric utility company in the world, ranked 2nd in Fortune Global 500 for year 2016.

GEIRINA expects to take advantage of the extraordinary academic atmosphere and professional human resources in Silicon Valley. We are seeking people with expertise in electric power systems, data analytics, high performance computing, machine learning, and software development, and sincerely welcome those who want to make a difference in the process of developing smart, resilient and highly interconnected electricity grid. GEIRI North America is an equal opportunity employer and we value diversity in our workforce.

Dr. Costinett Wins 2017 Innovation Drive Award

Dr. Daniel Costinett, assistant professor in the department of electrical engineering and computer science and co-director of education and diversity at CURENT, recieved the 2017 Innovation Driver Award from the University of Tennessee Research Foundation (UTRF). This award recognizes faculty inventors who are relatively new to working with UTRF, meaning they submitted their first invention disclosure within the last three years and have demonstrated enthusiasm, creativity and drive to bring their ideas to the commercial marketplace.

Congratulations to Dr. Costinett!

Read the article. 

EPRI, IEEE, EECS and the University of Tennessee are having an Industry Session on Thursday, February 15th in MHK 435 at 4pm to discuss research and internship opportunities. We encourage all CURENT students to attend.

The IEEE East Tennessee PES/PELS Joint Society will be hosting a social event at the Knoxville Public House tomorrow. This is a great opportunity to meet local professionals and make new connections while enjoying good food, games, and conversation.  Please RSVP.

 Who: IEEE Members, family, and friends

 When: Thursday, February 15^th from 6:30 to 8:00 PM

 Where: Knoxville Public House

             212 W. Magnolia Ave

             Knoxville, TN 37917

             (865) 247-4344

 RSVP: RSVP required so we can plan accordingly

Dominion Energy has again generously offered to sponsor the University of Tennessee (UTK) and CURENT for a CIGRE collective membership for 2018. Dominion Energy is a generous donator to CURENT and as such also sponsored a CIGRE membership for UTK and CURENT in 2015, 2016 and 2017. A CIGRE collective membership allows all students and faculty to electronically receive CIGRE documents for free and allows faculty plus student involvement in CIGRE activities.

Dominion Energy hopes that by extending CIGRE membership, future engineering professionals will be able to take advantage of this professional power organization as well as the professional benefits of IEEE while they are students at UTK. 

Additional details about CIGRE can be found at http://www.cigre.org.

Students can access the CIGRE community membership through Confluence. 

Click to read more about Dominion Energy. 

Dr. Wang Selected for Induction as National Academy of Inventors Fellow

Dr. Fred Wang, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Condra Chair of Excellence in Power Electronics, has been selected for induction as a National Academy of Inventors Fellow for 2017.

Being named an NAI Fellow is one of the highest honors a researcher can receive, with the 912 NAI Fellows—including 29 Nobel laureates—accounting for more than 32,000 issued US patents and $140 billion in revenue.  

Read the article on Tennessee Today.