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From Microgrids to Supergrids – Grid Emulation through Power Electronics

Leon M. Tolbert
Chancellor’s Professor and the Min H. Kao Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
University of Tennessee
ECSE Seminar Series
JEC 3117
Tue, November 12, 2024 at 1:30 PM

This presentation will describe a power electronics based hardware testbed that can emulate an electric grid’s generation, loads, storage, and transmission network and perform several real-time scenarios while incorporating real measurement, control, communication, estimation, and actuation in the system.  The system can be used to represent faults, future grids with high levels of renewable penetration, and a multi-terminal HVDC overlay. 

The testbed has been used to represent a future North American grid model that has high penetration levels of renewables (>80%) and also for representing a distribution-level microgrid that has a flexible boundary and multiple points of grid connection.  The tool has been useful in developing control, protection, and measurements needed for the future electric grid.

Also, a brief introduction will be provided about the NSF/DOE Engineering Research Center headquartered at The University of Tennessee called CURENT.  The goals of CURENT are to develop controls and technology that enable the integration of a high penetration level of renewables into the electric transmission network and to enable wide area monitoring, control, and actuation of the U.S. electric grid. 

Leon M. Tolbert received the Bachelor’s, M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech. He worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN, from 1991 until 2020 on electric distribution and power quality projects. He joined the University of Tennessee in 1999, and he is currently a Chancellor’s Professor and the Min H. Kao Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He is a founding member for the National Science Foundation/Department of Energy Engineering Research Center, CURENT, which develops technology for the future electric grid to accommodate a high penetration of renewables and transportation electrification.

Dr. Tolbert is a Fellow of the IEEE and a Registered Professional Engineer in the state of Tennessee. He is the deputy editor-in-chief of the IEEE Power Electronics Magazine and the publication department chair of the IEEE Industry Applications Society.  He was the recipient of the 2023 IEEE PELS Milan Jovanovic Award for Power Electronics Emerging Technology and 10 prize paper awards from the IEEE Industry Applications Society and IEEE Power Electronics Society.    He conducts research in utility and transportation applications of power electronics including microgrids, interface with renewable energy sources, medium voltage multilevel converters, EV charging and vehicle to grid functions, and the application of WBG power electronics.