IEEE PES/PELS Western Australia Chapter

December 2017: Outstanding WA PES/PELS Engineer 2017 - Award Presentation

The winner of the WA joint PES/PELS chapter outstanding engineer award is Associate Prof SM Muyeen. The award recognised Muyeen "for substantial and outstanding excellence in wide areas of power research, education and service to IEEE". This award is organized by the IEEE joint Power and Energy Society & Power Electronics Society Western Australia Chapter. It recognizes the outstanding contributions of a local engineer to the power engineering profession. An interim award was presented on the 12th December 2017 to Muyeen by Chapter chairman Harry McDonald (pending the arrival of the plaque).

November 2017: IEEE Distinguished Lecture on Control and Protection Functions In A Strong and Robust Smart Grid

The last technical event for 2017 was a distinguished lecture ‘Control and Protection Functions In A Strong and Robust Smart Grid’, by Virginia Tech’s director Prof Saifur Rahman. Prof Rahman is also the president elect of PES and will be assuming the presidency for a two year term on 1st January 2018.

Professor Saifur Rahman is the founding director of the Advanced Research Institute at Virginia Tech, USA where he is the Joseph R. Loring professor of electrical and computer engineering. He also directs the Center for Energy and the Global Environment. He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE and an IEEE Millennium Medal winner.

He is the president-elect of the IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) for 2016 and 2017, and will be the president for 2018 and 2019. He was the founding editor-in-chief of the IEEE Electrification Magazine and the IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy. In 2006 he served on the IEEE Board of Directors as the vice president for publications.

He is a distinguished lecturer for the IEEE Power & Energy Society and has lectured on renewable energy, energy efficiency, smart grid, electric power system operation and planning, etc. in over 30 countries.

He served as the chair of the US National Science Foundation Advisory Committee for International Science and Engineering from 2010 to 2013. He has conducted several energy efficiency related projects for Duke Energy, Tokyo Electric Power Company, the US Department of Defense, the State of Virginia and the US Department of Energy.

June 2017: Advancement Development in Electric Power Technologies (ADEPT) Workshop

Electric Power Systems around the world are currently undergoing rapid and transformational changes. Distributed Generation, Nano-grids, Micro-grids with and without storage are now emerging as common features of today’s complex power system. The higher costs of supplying power to remote areas are now largely offset through renewable power generation and storage systems. Ordinary consumers are now prosumers and are looking to be self-reliant with their energy needs. High penetration of renewables including rooftop PV systems are displacing significant energy requirements from the main grid. This introduces both challenges and opportunities for the grid. Many countries have developed ambitious policies for a large part of their energy needs to be sourced from renewable power generation. Large scale integration of variable power to grid has its own challenges and recent events of South Australia are forcing people to rethink policies on penetration targets. Electric vehicles are becoming popular by the day and with battery prices decreasing one would expect that the EV will slowly but surely emerge as a principal mode of transportation. Power Electronic Converters play a huge role in the make-up for most of the emerging technologies. Their compliances to grid requirement in maintaining stability, protection, active and reactive power support are of paramount importance in managing modern power systems. Distributed Energy Clusters and Exchanges, Demand Side Management, optimised mix of energy sources that maintain grid stability and reduce utility capital investment are key challenges. Smart Power Solutions including online monitoring of assets and resilient power networks and their ability to ‘self-heal’ is now high on the agenda. ICT applications in Smart Grid are expected to grow further and issues such as cybersecurity need to be addressed.

This one day workshop on Advancement Development in Electric Power Technologies (ADEPT) will provide an introduc on to various emerging technologies of Power System and its existing and upcoming challenges. In addition to panel discussion, the following topics will be discussed in depth in the forum:

• Large Scale Renewable Energy Penetration Challenges
• Condition Monitoring of Power System Assets
• Energy Storage Technologies and their applications
• New Control and Communica on Architectures in Smart Grid

June 2017: Grid Integration of Electric Vehicles – Lunchbox

On 14 June 2017, Prof. Udaya K. Madawala BSc (Hons), Ph.D. (sponsored by IEEE) presented on the trends and the latest advances in grid integration of EVs and its impact on the power grid and infrastructure. EVs are increasingly perceived as the most promising technology for sustainable living with the potential for improving air quality and energy security with demand control using the vehicle to grid (V2G) concept. However, EV technology has its own challenges, particularly in relation to developing an efficient, compact and reliable power interface for both charging and discharging.

May 2017: Chapter Award Presentations

The IEEE PES WA Chapter Prize In Power Systems Analysis was awarded to UWA student Mr Jade Forlani-Brennan.

The IEEE PES/PELS Prize was awarded to Curtin student Mr Tran Thein Dat Nguyen.

Mehdi Toufan is presented an outstanding engineering award for 2016 by IEEE PES WA committee member and region 10 IEEE PES representative Dean Sharafi, In appreciation of sustained & outstanding contributions to IEEE PES WA success and reputation and leadership in electricity industry.

April 2017: IEEE WA Section Women in Engineering Affinity Group & WA Power and Energy & Power Electronics Society (PES/PELS) chapter

Supporting the Electric Energy Society of Australia (EESA) WA State Chapter. Keynote address from Ms. Amanda Pryce and presentation of EECON Best Poster Paper awards.

March 2017: Diagnostic Measurements on High Voltage Assets Seminar

Western Power and OMICRON, in association with IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) of Western Australia, presented a seminar on Diagnostic Measurements on Power Transformers on 24 April 2017. Topics included

• Smart maintenance of power transformers
• Time optimised substation asset diagnostics
• Improving safety and efficiency in transformer testing by minimising re-wiring and guided workflow
• Application of advanced product safety methods to enhance the safety of people and increase plant reliability
• Intelligent techniques for power transformer condition monitoring