Importance of Electrical Power Conversion

Education in a Sustainable Energy World

Keynote Presentation

Doha, Qatar

December 14, 2009

Deepak DivanPresident, IEEE Power Electronics Society

Director, Intelligent Power Infrastructure Consortium

Professor, School of Electrical Engineering

Georgia Institute of Technology

Atlanta, GA USA

IEEE Power Electronics Society

• On behalf of IEEE PELS, thank you for the invitation to participate at the NSF

Workshop on Electrical Energy Education

• PELS is transnational with over 6,700 members. Field of Interest is efficient

electrical energy conversion using power semiconductors. Looking to

establish broader cooperation in the Middle East, India and Africa through

programs that provide mutual benefit.

• Technology advances are closely linked to education.

• Transformation occurring in the energy sector. What is tomorrow’s world

going to look like?

• What are the new technologies and skills that our students need to be

trained in? How about retraining current engineers? The greying workforce?

• In the last 30 years, EE knowledge has multiplied more than 100X. Yet the

engineering degree has remained at 125-130 credit hours.

• As the world is completely transformed yet again, it is important that we

define what tomorrow’s graduates need to know.

Energy – 20th Century Paradigm

• Industrial revolution was based on the Carnot cycle, availability of unlimited natural resources and a limitless environment.

• Global business model was based on availability of abundant low-cost energy. Costs were externalized and not fully accounted for.

• Only the powerful nations consumed high per capita energy.

• Problems were assumed to be single dimensional and linear, and complex interdependencies were ignored.

• Electricity is an entitlement, reliability at any cost (US).

• Climate change is not real.

Bio or Fossil Fuel

70-85% Lost Energy

15-30% Useful EnergyThermal Engine

• We consume fossil fuel at >1000X the rate at which it was made by nature, and emit most of it as waste heat, over and above solar insolation – not sustainable.

• When the fuel is simply extracted from the ground from a limitless supply, one can accept 70-85% lost energy, provided the economics works out.

Current Initiatives – A World in Transition

• Climate change is real – Copenhagen meeting underway

• IPCC targets 80% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050

• RPS mandates, GHG limits, carbon cap & trade, grid parity for wind/solar

– Wind and solar fastest growing generation. Reaching RPS levels above 15%will be a challenge, given renewable location and variability.

– Carbon tax or cap & trade will have major impact on energy industry andautomotive sector if all carbon costs are accounted for.

• Automotive industry running into a brick wall – global demand and supply limits

– Biofuels: Near price parity, scaling issues and environmental impact

– EV/PHEV: Battery costs and charging infrastructure

• Energy independence and security

– Oil imports of $240 B/year and geopolitical instability

– Sufficient coal and natural gas for hundreds of years

Business As Usual will not work. Future is not clear.

Energy – 21st Century Realities

• Globalization and the IT revolution have brought billions into the mainstream, raising aspirations, and creating competition for dwindling natural resources

• Natural resources and the environment are finite and reaching a limit. Every solution has unintended consequences.

• Climate change is real & accelerating. Carbon limits are coming.

• Reducing energy consumption will be unacceptable for emerging economies, especially when per capita energy consumption in India is 4 MWh/year and in the US is 82 MWh/year.

• Energy is the first challenge to be addressed. With fossil fuels, it is a zero sum game. With abundant sustainable energy, all other issues can be solved.

• Two energy delivery infrastructures exist. Both industry groups will try to maintain their dominance.

• Transportation: Oil reserves available if prices keep increasing. Biofuels reaching price parity. Energy security & independence and GHG issues.

• Electricity: No limits on supply. Adequate reserves for 300 years. GHG?

• Will both be maintained, or will one dominate in a carbon neutral world?

Electricity Powered Cars – Transportation Infrastructure

• Nissan, PG&E, FedEx & others project scaling to 100 million EVs in US by 2030!

• Electricity powered cars require on-board energy storage - Batteries, Hydrogen or Compressed Air.

• Interim use of PHEVs until battery and fast-charging infrastructure are improved.

• Integration with Smart Grid initiatives to reduce new generation build-out (V2G).

• Cars can be charged from the conventional grid or from a sustainable resource

Biofuels v/s Solar for Driving 30 Miles/Day

• Green arrows are energy flows, red arrows are waste energy. All units in kWh/day.

• Bioethanol and electricity transportation losses have been omitted.

• Sustainable energy supply chains require no fossil fuels and produce no net carbon emissions.

Sustainability Comparison of Four Scenarios – Transit

Fossil Fuels

Electric Transit

ICE Transit

Sustainable Energy

Transformation of the Electricity Infrastructure

• Increased penetration of wind and solar energy

• Issues with higher penetration levels

• Energy needs can be supported w/ renewables

Transformation of Energy Sector

• Points to an increasingly electrified world, with reduced emphasis on thermal

energy conversion and on fossil fuels

• Under the BAU scenario (EIA 2004), 30% load growth in 25 years to 1300 GW

may be managed with conventional generation and grid technologies.

• RPS mandate of 30% would translate into 500 GW nameplate in variable

generation using renewables (location and variability issue, rooftop solar,

distributed microgrids)

• Transitioning 30% of the car fleet to electric by 2030 would need 500 GW in peak

capacity, would save $80 Billion/year in petroleum imports and 170-640 Mt-C/year

in GHG emissions (with 3 kW charger)

• Reducing energy consumption by 30% using energy efficiency and market

functions would shave almost 500 GW in peak load demand from the grid.

– Requires AMI infrastructure with automation of load management

– New entrepreneurial opportunity

• Current grid cannot handle this level of change. What changes are needed to

enable this transformation?

Infrastructure Gaps – Inorganic Energy World (US)

Intermittency

-Storage

- Grid Control

Peak Load

-Storage

- New plants

Real Time Pricing

-Carbon cap/trading

- Differentiated service

30% Renewables

-Wind, PV, DER

-500 GW pk

30% Reduction in

Mobile Fossil

Sources – PHEV

500 GW pk

30% Reduction in

Consumption

500 GW pk

Market

SMART & CONTROLLABLE GRID:

- Virtual storage by coordination of

intermittent sources and non-

critical dispatchable loads

-Converting ‘power lines’ into

controllable ‘pipelines’

- Ensuring reliable operation under

dynamic conditions

- Improving asset utilization

- Enabling green energy markets

GAP ANALYSIS

CHALLENGES:

- Intermittency of renewables

- Infrastructure requirement to

support PHEV/RTP load

- Real time markets for energy

products

-Cost recovery on new energy

infrastructure

- Understanding total cost

- Market and regulatory structure

Societal objectives - 2030

Implementing a Smart and Controllable Grid

• Much of the current work in Smart Grids is focused on smart metering,

communications and coordination of generation and loads. Wide energy price

fluctuations need to be occur for strong ROI. With EV penetration and RPS

mandates, this can all change. Dumb Use Smart Use

•Power delivery assets will be infused with intelligence, communications and

dynamic control capability, using distributed mass-manufactured components for

low-cost and high-reliability through redundancy. Dumb Asset Smart Asset

• Power grid will be massively-networked and distributed for high-reliability, and will

allow autonomous local control with local information while ensuring global system

level optimization using feedback. Radial System Meshed Network

• New techniques for system level monitoring, visualization, protection and control

in the presence of massive data streams from widely distributed assets will provide

visibility and actionable information to allow operators to avert catastrophic events.

Reactive Response Proactive Response

• This approach can dramatically reduce the cost and accelerate implementation of

a Smart Grid, enabling system transforming applications such as virtual energy

storage, V2G with EVs, demand side management, and increased penetration of

distributed renewable resources. Dumb Grid Smart & Controllable Grid

What is a Smart Grid?

Smart Grid – Some Applications

• Manage EV/PHEV charging without overloading distribution infrastructure

• Increased penetration of renewables: dynamic and bidirectional power flows

• New market forces with RTP, ‘green’ electrons, carbon limits.

• Carbon credits as a tradable commodity

• Increased automation, enhanced reliability and power quality

• Reduced congestion and improved asset utilization

• Reduce number of generating plants and power lines that need to be built

• Avert cascading failures under contingency conditions

• Controllable valves for flow control between control areas

• Energy efficiency - Negawatts

*Courtesy: Tom Overbye, UIUC

Smart Grid

• We are moving towards an increasingly electrified world.

• The existing grid has to be upgraded to a smart and controllable grid in order to meet

RPS mandates, allow increased EV penetration, and to reduce GHG emissions – helping

make the energy infrastructure sustainable.

• Smart Grid is a wide topic that covers everything from Smart Meters, Demand Side

Management, Distribution Automation, Pervasive Sensing, Situational Awareness,

Control of Power Flows, Dynamic Voltage and Stability Control, Distributed Generation,

Integration of Renewable Energy Resources, Improved Asset Utilization, Distributed and

Lumped Energy Storage, IT and Communication Infrastructure.

• Smart Grid will permit sophisticated market functions – Real Time Pricing; Green v/s

Black Electrons; Ancillary Markets for VARs; Energy Storage; Reliability; Elimination of

Free Rider Problem; Improved Returns on Transmission Investments; Reduced

Probability of Cascading Failures.

• Cost offsets need to be found to make a Smart Grid affordable.

• Without a Smart Grid, it may be impossible to transition to a Sustainable Energy

Economy.

Education Needs to Support a Sustainable Energy Future

• Students we educate now will be in the workforce for the next 40 years. How do we prepare them for a world that will be fundamentally different from ours?

• Need to give them a system perspective first, with understanding of sustainability, fully internalized costs, resource impact, global interdependencies, climate change,

• Introduce energy at Sophomore level, concept of energy generation, delivery and use. Includes thermal, chemical, electro-mechanical energy conversion. Includes fossil fuel, coal, wind, solar and nuclear energy principles. Major uses of energy – consumer, industrial, transportation.

• System level understanding of power, energy, work, heat, thermodynamics.

• System level introduction to power electronics, machines, power systems.

• Part of the reason we have a problem today is that we teach technology in isolation of the world around us. We need to teach students the social and economic impact of technology as well. Energy needs policy!

• Given the rapid shifts in technology, we also need to provide mechanisms for life-long learning.

• Finally, we need to provide more of a systems level understanding for K-12 students, so they can be better prepared for college or life.

Power Conversion and Energy Education

17

• Power electronics was a niche technology 25 years ago, with specific use in

industrial control (drives) and limited utility applications, e.g. HVDC

• Technologists had to be competent in the details to be able to use it effectively –

needed to know about devices, circuits, controls and machines. Reliability was poor,

volume was low, so there was little standardization. Only experts could design and

reliably use the equipment.

• EPRI predicted around 1990 that in 15-20 years, 60% of the electricity would flow

through silicon at least once. Many electrons now flow through 8-10 silicon devices,

and this will only increase.

•Number of people who now need to specify, use or apply devices which include

power conversion now spans every user of electricity. PE is now ubiquitous, in

virtually every device we use, and soon to be on roof-tops and EVs.

• The teaching process should now be flipped on its head. We need to teach a

systems approach for energy first. Only the experts need to learn the details

(example: analog electronics, digital circuits). However, PE needs to be introduced to

all EEs. Today PE is not even taught to students in the power stream.

Power Electronics in an Electrified World

Utility Applications

• PV Panel Integrated Grid Interface Inverters (Ultra Low Cost)

• Windfarms Using DFIG/PM Generators

• V2G as a Grid Resource

• Scalable Energy Storage at Grid Level

• From Power Line to Pipeline – Delivering Green Electrons!

• Increasing Grid Asset Utilization

• Dynamic Grid Control to Allow Increased Penetration of Renewables

• Virtual Energy Storage Using Dynamic Control of Loads

• Grid Interface for a Microgrid

• Distributed Micro-Grids

• Enabling Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) Mandates

• Impact of Carbon Cap/Trading on Choice of Technology Solutions

• Merchant Transmission

• Power Flow Control to Mitigate Congestion

• HVDC, STATCOM, FACTS

End-Use Applications

• Energy Efficient Power Supplies

• VRMs for Computers

• AC Motor Drives

• Traction Motor Drives

• CFL and LED Lighting

• Energy Efficient HVAC

• Energy Efficient Data Centers

• Electric and Plug-in Electric Hybrids

• Hybrid Electric Vehicles

• Automotive Electronics

• Power Protection and UPS

• Energy Storage

• Induction Cooktops

• Audio Amplifiers

• Robots

• Welding

• Deep Sea Oil Pumping

• Induction Heating

What Should An Energy Curriculum Include?

• Energy has gone from being an infinite on-demand resource to a critical

resource that impacts sustainability and continued global economic growth.

• Core curriculum should include a ‘Modern Energy Systems’ course that

teaches a balanced perspective on sources, delivery and use of energy. This

would also include resource issues, carbon emissions, climate change,

economics and basic regulatory/policy fundamentals. Technology fundamentals

include principles of thermodynamics, electricity, power conversion, as well as

electrochemical and electromechanical systems. Typical uses of energy would

also be covered. This should be a required course for all engineering majors.

• Power courses need to be modernized to reflect new principles and concepts

that are emotionally interesting for younger students.

• Undergrad courses need to be systems oriented, providing students basic

principles but not getting them mired down in design issues. Unlike in the past,

today’s undergrad is a ‘clean slate’ that the companies train for specific tasks.

• Graduate courses provide the opportunity for in-depth coverage of material,

design and analysis. MS is now the staple of companies wanting to hire

technology specialists. PhDs are also migrating deeper into technology and

knowledge centric companies.

Life-Long Education

• A critical element for the future is life-long education. This has to have a regional flavor, and has to be individual oriented.

• IEEE has a major role to play in this field, to help disseminate new ideas, and to bring authenticated offerings to the market.

• PELS is working to create a platform for web based content delivery, with an intent to create peer reviewed tutorials using a standardized PPT+Voice format. These are intended to be generated by the presenters using standard tools, and are likely to target local/regional students/engineers. Distribution via the web, I-Pod, or other mechanisms.

• In addition, university continuing education programs will continue to flourish, as will private offerings.

• DOE is reviewing proposals that target teaching and training in Smart Grid related areas. Hands-on training of new practitioners in new technology areas is critical. We need to find mechanisms to do that effectively.

Conclusions

• The energy infrastructure is on the verge of irreversibly changing, becoming much more

electrified. It is critically important that society move towards a sustainable energy future.

We need technologists and engineers to be trained in sustainable energy technologies.

• Energy needs to be taught with a modern flair, to be inspiring to young minds, to show

that this is an exciting field that can be a game changer.

• A systems approach should be used in sophomore and junior classes, expanding out to

more detail at the senior and graduate level.

• We need a more balanced approach including thermal, fossil and biofuels, nuclear, as

well as solar and wind energy. Smart power delivery and utilization issues also need to be

covered.

• Power electronics is now an integral part of most energy conversion. Cannot be relegated

to the background, with overly simplified models – need realistic models in line with high

penetration levels.

• New market functions need to be enabled – Real Time Pricing; Green v/s Black

Electrons; Ancillary Markets for VARs; Energy Storage; Reliability; Elimination of Free

Rider Problem; Improved Returns on Transmission Investments; Reduced Probability of

Cascading Failures.