Interdisciplinary Education on Smart Grids: Lessons, Challenges, and Opportunities

Visvakumar Aravinthan and Vinod NamboodiriDepartment of Electrical Engineering and Computer

Science Wichita State University

1

NSF-PEEC Workshop Washington DCJuly 26-27, 2014

What is the Issues?2

• In addition, issues related to education: • CS students lack circuit theory, EE fundamentals• EE students lack information/data flow ideas• Differences in Math: Discrete versus Continuous

What are the issues?3

• Future Grid Interdependencies – Cyber Power Networks

• Future engineers require system level knowledge• How to develop solutions with practical value

Our Classes4

IntroductoryIntroductorySection 1: Introduction

Restructured power systemsPower system enhancementApplications that require grid advancement

Section 2: Measurement and CommunicationMeasurement Technologies Communication requirements for smart gridsStandardization

Section 3: Performance Analysis ToolsChanges to load flow studies Congestion and congestion managementPower system reliability

Section 4: Resource Management Demand response Sustainable renewable energy resources Impact of electric vehicles to the grid Environmental impacts

Section 5: Power System Automation Bulk power system automation Distribution system automation End user level of smart grid

AdvancedAdvancedSection 1: Power Systems

Power system transient and stability State estimation theory Signal processing in power systems

Section 2: Computer NetworkingHybrid commutation system for smart grids Advanced metering infrastructure Information security and privacy Network protocol development Performance evaluation

Section 3: Environmental and Economic Issues Environmental impacts Power system economics Economics of alternative fuels

Section 4: Control Theory Decentralized / distributed control Multi-objective optimization Reliable control

Section 5: Research

Lessons Learned5

How can we co-teach? •Engineers

• power system• Computer

•Computer scientists

• V. Namboodiri, V. Aravinthan, S. Joseph, E. Sawan, and W. Jewell, “Five heads are better than one: An interdisciplinary graduate course on smart grids: Lessons, challenges, and opportunities,” Power and Energy Magazine, IEEE, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 44 –50, January 2013.

• V. Namboodiri and V. Aravinthan, “On the design of a graduate-level cross-disciplinary course on smart grids,” in Collaborative Smart Grid Education Panel Session: Proceedings of the IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) General Meeting, IEEE PES GM, July 2012.