Intelligent Power Grids of Tomorrow

This book discusses various aspects of future intelligent power grids, covering key topics including the operation of smart grids and microgrids, resource optimization, and energy management. Over the last few decades, the use of solar photovoltaics (PVs) and wind turbine generators has increased significantly in an effort to make future power systems sustainable. However, the intensive integration of renewables in existing electrical networks has raised several control and operational issues due to their limited dispatch capability and intermittent generation. In addition, integrating new electrical loads, such as those produced by electric vehicles, heat pumps, and electric water heaters, in existing distribution networks negatively impacts the power-balance scenario. As such, these developments present both challenges and opportunities for the research community.

Against this backdrop, the book not only discusses the challenges and their potential solutions, but also outlines future research directions that could help make future power grids intelligent, adaptive, and resilient. It presents insights from academia, industry, and research institutions on understanding, modeling, and analyzing the control and operation of intelligent power grids of the future.

Dr. Nava Raj Karki obtained his MSc (Hons) in Electrical Engineering from Belarussian National Technical University, Minsk in 1995 and PhD in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 2011. He joined the Department of Electrical Engineering, Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Nepal in 1995 and is currently an Associate Professor and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Saskatchewan. He is actively involved in IEEE activities and is the founding Vice Chair of the IEEE Nepal Subsection. Dr. Karki very actively promotes Academia–Industry collaboration in the Institute of Engineering and various multilateral initiatives like Erasmus Mundus Programme. He has published several papers on power system planning, reliability, distributed generation and restructuring and published a book on Electrical Engineering Materials (Narosa Series in Power and Energy Systems; Alpha Science International, 2007). 

Dr. Bishnu P. Bhattarai obtained his MSc in Power System Engineering from Tribhuvan University, Nepal and Osaka Sangyo University, Japan in 2010, and PhD in Electrical Engineering from Aalborg University, Denmark in 2015. He served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Nepal from 2010 to 2012. From 2016, Dr. Bhattarai has been working as a researcher in the Department of Power and Energy System at the Idaho National Laboratory, USA. He is actively involved in professional activities, such as an executive committee member of the IEEE Eastern Idaho Section, Track chair of Smart Grid of IEEE Conferences on Technologies for Sustainability, and a regular reviewer of more than 15 international journals. His publications have appeared in peer-reviewed journals and as conference publications in the area of energy security, smart grid, microgrid, demand response, grid resiliency, and cyber-physical power system. 

Dr. Ajit Kumar Verma is a Professor (Technical Safety) at ATØM, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Haugesund, Norway. He was earlier a Professor with the Reliability Engineering/Department of Electrical Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) for around 15 years with a research focus on reliability, risk and safety engineering in various domains. He is also a Guest Professor at the Lulea University of Technology, Sweden and was an adjunct at the University of Stavanger, Norway. He is the Series Editor of Springer series ‘Reliable & Sustainable Electric Power and Energy Systems Management’ and has jointly edited books published by Springer titled ‘Reliability and Risk Evaluation of Wind Integrated Power Systems’ (2013), ‘Reliability Modeling and Analysis of Smart Power Systems’ (2014), ‘Current Trends in Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety—An Industry Perspective’ (2016), and ‘Sustainable Power Systems’ (2017), , and is also an author of books titled ‘Fuzzy Reliability Engineering – Concepts and Applications’ (Narosa, 2007), ‘Optimal Maintenance of Large Engineering System – Practical Strategies for Effective Decision Making’ (Narosa, 2012), ‘Reliability and Safety Engineering’ (Springer, 2015), ‘Dependability of Networked Computer Based Systems’ (Springer, 2011), and ‘Risk Management of Non-Renewable Energy Systems’ (Springer, 2015). He has more than 250 publications in various journals and conferences. He is a senior member of the IEEE and a life fellow of the IETE. He has been the Editor-in-Chief of the journal OPSEARCH published by Springer (January 2008–January 2011) as well as the Founder Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Systems Assurance Engineering and Management (IJSAEM), and Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Life Cycle Reliability and Safety Engineering, both published by Springer. He is on the editorial board of various international journals. He has served as a Guest Editor of Special Issues of journals including IEEE Transactions on Reliability (March 2011).  

Dr. Rajesh Karki obtained his BE degree in Electrical Engineering from the Regional Engineering College (renamed National Institute of Technology), Durgapur, West Bengal, India in 1991, and MSc and PhD degrees in Electrical Power Engineering in 1997 and 2000, respectively, from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. He worked for academic institutions and different industries in Nepal between 1991 and 1995, and for GE Industrial Systems, Peterborough, ON, Canada during 2000–2002. He joined the University of Saskatchewan, Canada as an Assistant Professor in 2002, where he currently serves as a Professor. During 2005–2012, he chaired the Power Systems Research Group at the University of Saskatchewan. He has served in various capacities in conferences, workshops, and guest lectures in Canada and abroad and has published over 80 papers in reputable international journals and peer-reviewed conferences. Dr. Karki has completed several consulting projects on system planning and reliability for Canadian electric utilities. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and a Professional Engineer in the Province of Saskatchewan, Canada. His research interests include power system reliability and planning, and reliability modeling and analysis of renewable energy systems.