US-China Workshop: Identification of Challenges and Opportunities for Large Scale Deployment of the Smart Grid
Advanced Research Institute of Virginia Tech, Arlington, VA, USA
Date: February 28 – March 1, 2013
Workshop Objective
This workshop was a collaborative effort between Virginia Tech - Advanced Research Institute, USA and Southeast University, China. It brought together approximately 30 experts from both United States and China who could help identify challenges and opportunities for large-scale development of the smart grid.
Specific objectives for the workshop were:
- To identify challenges of smart grid development in the United States and China;
- To identify technologies — electric power, sensing, computing and communication infrastructures necessary to support smart grid development and high penetration of intermittent renewable energy sources;
- To identify best practices and lessons learned based on deployment experience in smart grid projects implemented in the United States and China;
- To identify challenges and research topics that the participants can use as a context to propose new research in this field; and
- To provide international networking opportunities and potential for future research collaboration.
This workshop aimed at creating synergy among smart grid experts from the United States and China. and expose U.S. participants to challenges, lessons learned and best practices of smart grid development and implementation from the Chinese experience and their plans to address this issue. The U.S. participants from academia — including students, early career researchers and senior faculty members — had the opportunity to learn industry best practices, and to share their R&D knowledge. This activity has served as a basis for future academia-industry collaboration and for conducting joint research and/or setting up joint programs on smart grid among several U.S. and the Chinese institutions. Participants from China also had the opportunity to learn from the U.S. experience in smart grid implementation, including integration of intermittent sources, microgrid operation, smart homes, advanced metering infrastructure and demand response. They also had access to lessons learned, best practices and findings from several smart grid projects in the United States.
The financial and material support provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation were invaluable in making this workshop possible.
Presentations
Technical Session 1A: Smart Grid Technologies and Deployment Experience
- Gregory Reed, University of Pittsburgh, "Advances in energy storage technologies and applications for renewable energy integration."
- Steve Widergren, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, "Real-time Pricing Demo: Double Auction."
- Zaijun Wu, Southeast University, China, "Power Quality Solutions for Microgrids: Centralized vs. Distributed."
Technical Session 1B: Smart Grid Technologies and Deployment Experience (cont'd)
- Anurag K. Srivastava, Washington State University, “Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration and Implementation projects.”
- Ming Ni, State Grid Electric Power Research Institute of China, “Active Power Control System of Large Scale Wind Farms.”
- Xiaobo Dou, Southeast University, China, “Substation Automation System in China: From Digital Substation to Smart Substation.”
Technical Session 2: Transmission System Applications
- Efrain O’Neill-Carrillo, University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, "University Research and Utility Initiatives in Puerto Rico."
- EKai Sun, University of Tennessee, "Early warning of wide-area power system instability using synchrophasors."
- EShan Gao, Southeast University, China, "Research and Demonstration of Key Technology for Regional Power Grid With High Penetration of Intermittent Energy."
- EJianbing Xu, State Grid Electric Power Research Institute of China, "Wide Area Monitoring Analysis Protection-control System."
- EJignesh Solanki, West Virginia University, "Dynamic Modeling and Simulation of Smart Power Systems."
Technical Session 3: Distribution System Applications
- Mohammad Shahidehpour, Robert W. Galvin Center for Electricity Innovation, Illinois Institute of Technology, "Microgrid: a new hub in energy infrastructure."
- Gregory Dobbs, Pennsylvania State University, "Distribution Networks, Smart Microgrids, and Building to Grid Integration (B2G)—the Unregulated Philadelphia Navy Yard Microgrid and GridSTAR Feeder for Technology Demonstrations."
- Badrul Chowdhury, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, "Economic Viability of Renewable Energy and Other Distributed Resources in Power Distribution Markets."
- Mohammad Abdullah Al Faruque, University of California, Irvine, "Demand Side Energy Management —A Cyber-Physical Systems Perspective."
- Beibei Wang, Southeast University, China, "Research on Key Technologies of Flexible Interactive Smart Power Consumption."
Technical Session 4: Challenges Being Faced in Large Scale Deployments
- Clyde Loutan, California Independent System Operator (CAISO), "Operational Impact of Large-scale PV and Wind Integration."
- Charlie Smith, Utility Variable Generation Integration Group (UVIG), "Challenges of Large-Scale Wind Power Integration."
- Jie Yu, Southeast University, China, "Hierarchical Coordinated Optimal Dispatch in GREENHUB Microgrids."
- Yi Tang, Southeast University, China, "Emergency Control of Reactive Power for Power Grid with High Penetration Wind Energy."
- Sarika Khushalini-Solanki, West Virginia University, "Challenges Ahead for Self-Healing and Self-Optimizing Power Grid."
Discussion Session — Research Opportunities to Address the Knowledge Gap
Purpose: Development of prioritized recommendations and identify opportunities for U.S.-China joint research projects on smart grid.