Reservoir Woods
Waltham, MA
USA
Speaker: Rajiv K. Varma, Hydro One Chair in Power Systems Engineering, Electrical & Computer Engineering Department at University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
Time: Refreshments start at 6:00 pm, talk commences at 6:30 pm
Location: Valley A&B, National Grid, Reservoir Woods, Waltham, MA 02451
Photovoltaic (PV) solar farms generate power only during daytime and remain completely idle during the nights. This presentation will describe a set of technologies for utilization of PV solar farms at night for providing multiple benefits to both power transmission and distribution systems, as well as accomplishing the same objectives during the daytime from the inverter capacity left after production of real power. The new technology transforms a solar farm inverter into a dynamic reactive power compensator – STATCOM, and is termed PV-STATCOM. This presentation will illustrate the following four applications of PV-STATCOM technology on realistic transmission and distribution systems:
a) Increasing stable power transfer capacity of transmission lines
b) Increasing connectivity of wind farms located on the same or neighboring lines as solar farms
c) Stabilizing critical induction motor loads in the vicinity of solar farms
d) Reduction of line losses in long distribution feeders
This patent-pending PV-STATCOM technology can potentially lead to 100% utilization of PV solar farms, and open up new opportunities to earn significant revenues in addition to those from the sale of real power. These novel
technologies on solar farms are several orders of magnitude lower in cost compared to conventional devices used by electric utilities for providing the same functionalities and benefits in power systems.
It is planned to demonstrate this technology in a utility network in Ontario in summer 2015.
Dr. Rajiv K. Varma obtained B.Tech. & Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, India, in 1980 and 1988, respectively. He is currently an Associate Professor and Hydro One Research Chair in Power Systems Engineering at the University of Western Ontario (UWO), London, Ontario, Canada. Before joining Western in 2002, he was a Faculty Member at IIT Kanpur, India, for 11 years. He has received several teaching excellence awards at the Faculty and University levels at UWO.
Dr. Rajiv Varma has co-authored the book “Thyristor-Based FACTS Controllers for Electrical Transmission Systems” published by IEEE Press and John Wiley & Sons. He has co-delivered several Tutorials on “Static Var Compensator (SVC)” conducted by the IEEE Substations Committee. He is a Senior Member of IEEE and the Chair of IEEE Working Group on “HVDC and FACTS Bibliography”. He is also a Member of the IEEE P1547 Revision Working Group, Standard Technical Panel UL 1741, and the Smart Inverter Working Group (SIWG) of California.
His research interests include FACTS, power systems stability, and grid integration of wind and PV solar power systems. Dr. Rajiv Varma has developed a new technology for “Nighttime Utilization of Solar Farms as STATCOM” for which several international patents have been filed. He was awarded IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) “Energy Development and Power Generation Committee” Prize Paper Award for the above research in 2012.
Free and Open to the Public Visit the IEEE PES Boston Chapter website for further details –
http://www.ieeepesboston.org/
To assist us better plan this meeting, please pre-register at
http://www.ieeeboston.org/Register/.