Grant: Strategic Projects - Group

The electric power has been critical to the development of the national system of infrastructures (energy, water, communications, transportation, health, etc.) that constitute the fiber of modern societies. Electrical energy will continue to play a key role in solving the modern energy crisis by offering new technologies for a cleaner and sustainable industrialized future. The power grid is undergoing evolutionary changes. The existing AC infrastructure will see increasing proportion of advanced DC electrical systems and information-communication technologies that are driven by more efficient and reliable utilization of energy and ease of integrating alternative/renewable generation and storage systems. The 21st century will see evolution toward more DC grids including DC buildings, microgrids, and wider use of DC transmission and distribution.UBC has set high goals and initiated significant undertakings on its Vancouver campus regarding energy efficiency, sustainability, and reduction of greenhouse gases. The proposed research program will utilize the UBC's Campus as a Living Laboratory framework - a partnership of campus development units, researchers, students, and industrial partners - to carry out research in the following focus areas: a) Use of real-time smart meter data together with installed power electronic equipment and innovative control algorithms for improving the power quality of the AC distribution with DC loads and buildings to minimize the system-wide energy losses; b) Design of modular power electronic devices that can be readily and economically deployed in commercial and residential (net-energy-zero) buildings with integration of local energy sources and storage; c) Ensure the dynamic stability of the integrated AC-DC systems and develop distributed and scalable solutions for intelligent ""plug-n-play"" connectivity of various sources and loads; d) Develop power line communications technologies for real-time control in the 24/48/380 VDC systems and switchgear; and e) Develop strategies for optimizing combined AC/DC grid with electric vehicles as mobile resource through load and generation management. The research results will be demonstrated on the UBC campus to improve its energy usage.