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Monday, July 29, 2024
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
CNLS Conference Room (TA-3, Bldg 1690)

Seminar

Enhancing Power Grid Resiliency with Microgrid Restoration

Dr. Karen L. Butler-Purry
Texas A&M University

There is increasing electrification of most daily activities and vital services, such as transportation, commerce, communications, health care, water, and emergency responses. Distribution grids are much less resilient than transmission grids under extreme weather conditions due to their radial configurations, large component damage vulnerabilities, and limited controllable generation. Due to the increasing frequency and intensity of weather-caused grid outages in recent years, electric distribution grid R&D solutions are needed to enhance resilience to climate change and extreme weather. Advanced microgrids are becoming a technology solution that can improve customer reliability and resilience of power grids to grid disturbances.

This presentation will discuss the prior work of the Butler-Purry group in the development of a multi-step mixed-integer linear program (MILP) optimization formulation for solving the black start restoration problem. The formulation incorporates the operation of switches, DGs, energy storage systems (ESSs), and the behavior of loads under cold load pickup (CLPU) conditions. Dispatchable DGs and ESSs are coordinated with the switching sequence to energize as much load as possible while satisfying various operational constraints. This formulation is limited to a balanced power formulation, but it develops important operational constraints such as generator ramping and component energizing. Later work by the group extends the modeling to account for linearized unbalanced power flows and variable length time steps. In addition, the restoration problem formulation explores control strategies to form multiple isolated microgrids for black start restoration using both conventional synchronous DGs and inverter-based resources (IBRs).

Bio: Dr. Karen L. Butler-Purry is a Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Texas A&M University. Her research focuses on the areas of modeling and simulation, protection and control of electric power distribution systems and isolated power systems such as all electric power systems for ships, smart grids, and power microgrids, cybersecurity protection, intelligent systems for power system equipment deterioration and fault diagnosis, and engineering education. She is a registered professional engineer in the states of LA, TX, and MS. Dr. Butler-Purry developed a successful research program with funding from federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation and Office of Naval Research, and industry funding from electric utility companies. Also, she has led several fellowship and education projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health which promote recruitment, retention and advancement of pre-college, undergraduate and graduate students, and faculty in STEM fields, particularly individuals from historically underrepresented populations. She was elevated to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Fellow status in 2018.

Host: Russell Bent, T-5