This International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) program, organized by Professors Ali Mehrizi-Sani and Chen-Ching Liu from Washington State University (WSU), in collaboration with Prof. Stephen McArthur and his colleagues from the University of Strathclyde (Scotland), provides six US students with the opportunity to participate in the diverse smart grid research atmosphere at one of leading, most highly funded, and most entrepreneurial European universities. This program is developed out of a 20-year collaborative relationship between WSU and the University of Strathclyde. The students will undertake projects to address challenges in renewable energy integration. Ultimately, the research performed in this program will help increase the utilization of distributed renewable energy resources in the power system of the future, the smart grid. This research benefits our society and environment by (i) increasing penetration of renewable energy resources, (ii) increasing career interest in power system and the smart grid, and (iii) improving the quality and quantity of the power engineering workforce in the United States. These benefits directly translate into a more capable and larger student intake that can address the workforce shortage problem; it also helps the transition to a modern power grid with higher efficiency, reliability, and resiliency.
The students in this program will perform research relevant to smart grid and the electric power system. Electrical power is critical to the U.S. economy. However, most of the current U.S. electric infrastructure is outdated. What exacerbates this problem is that this infrastructure still runs mainly on legacy control, monitoring, and protection systems that may not realize its full potential. While environmental concerns and energy independence recommend utilizing renewable resources in the power system, one of the U.S. grand energy challenges remains to integrate large amounts of renewable energy. These challenges also add to the difficulty of enforcing resiliency of the power system to major disturbances and events. The research to be undertaken in this project seeks to address this challenge through activities on (i) accurate and fast controllers for integration of renewables, (ii) resilient distribution systems, and (iii) and system-agnostic controls of microgrid resources. Compared to the United States, many European countries have a more mature experience in the utilization of renewable energy resources. The University of Strathclyde maintains one of the largest power programs in Europe and, as a prime example of an institution with proven track record in research and industry collaboration, is an ideal partner in this project that combines an international research experience for students with outstanding research capacity.
