MVDC Power Distribution Networks
Abstract:
Despite benefiting from alternating current (AC) systems for over a century there are numerous applications where direct current (DC) technology offers substantial benefits. With advancements in power semiconductors and power electronics systems, it has become possible to implement systems not imaginable a hundred years ago. While DC is a reality for high-voltage (HV) bulk power transmission and many low-voltage (LV) applications, potentials, and benefits are largely unexplored in the medium-voltage (MV) domain due to the lack of available and standardized high-power conversion and protection technologies for DC. The talk will provide an overview of the MVDC applications and their specific requirements that involve various technologies. These include advanced power electronics converters (DC-DC, DC-AC, AC-DC), protection coordination, protection equipment as well as overall system analysis and modeling, often needed to access system operation and stability limits. Various onshore and off-shore electrical grids offer certain benefits if implemented with MVDC, and requirements, as well as challenges will be discussed.
About the speaker:
Drazen Dujic is an Associate Professor and Director of the Powe Electronics Laboratory at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he is engaged in research activities in the broad field of electrical energy generation, conversion, and storage, with focus on medium voltage high power applications. He received his Dipl. Ing. and MSc degrees from the University of Novi Sad, Serbia, in 2002 and 2005, respectively, and his PhD degree from Liverpool John Moores University, UK in 2008. From 2009 till 2014 he was with ABB Switzerland, and engaged in power electronics-related projects spanning the range from low-power power supplies in below kW range to medium voltage high power converters in a MW range. His main research interests are in the areas of design and control of advanced medium-voltage high-power electronics systems and high-performance drives. He is an IEEE Senior Member and Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.