Toward a Smarter Power Grid: Reliability and Efficiency

The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Department of Electronic & Computer Engineering

		Joint Seminar
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Speaker:	Dr. Edmund YEH
		Yale University

Title:		"Toward a Smarter Power Grid: Reliability and
		 Efficiency"

Date:		Monday, 14 March 2011

Time:		2:30pm - 3:30pm

Venue:		Room 2404 (via lifts 17/18) HKUST

Abstract:

Regarded as the greatest engineering achievement of the 20th century, the
world's power grid is nonetheless an overtaxed, blackout-prone network
carrying one-way flow of electricity from carbon-producing centralized
power generation plants to users who have little awareness of their energy
consumption or potential for energy efficiency.  In this talk, we discuss
some fundamental challenges in the effort to bring about a more reliable,
efficient, and clean smart power grid.

One of the most serious challenges facing the current power grid is its
declining reliability.  Major power blackouts caused by cascading
power-line and generator failures are occurring with increasing frequency
around the world, causing enormous economic losses and threatening
national security.  Yet, there is still a shortage of understanding on the
structures and properties which lend the power grid susceptible to
cascading failure.  In the first part of the talk, we present a new
approach for studying power blackouts from a network perspective.  For
large-scale networks modeled by geometric graphs, we use a simple but
descriptive model to show that the cascading failure problem is equivalent
to a dependent percolation process. Within this context, we obtain one of
the first analytical conditions for the occurrence and non-occurrence of
cascading failure, respectively.

The poor reliability of the power grid is due in part to the high levels
of stress caused by heavy demand, particularly during periods of peak
load.  Indeed, the current grid is inherently inefficient since some 20%
of grid capacity is needed to serve the 5% highest usage hours.  With the
arrival of two-way smart grid communications, utilities can use "demand
response" mechanisms to manage electricity consumption in response to
supply conditions.  In the second part of the talk, we present two
approaches to demand response, involving dynamic pricing and optimal power
resource allocation over time. These solutions have the potential to
greatly reduce peak demand, thereby enhancing grid stability while
drastically cutting overall energy usage and associated carbon emissions.

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Biography:

Edmund Yeh received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering with Distinction
from Stanford University in 1994, his M.Phil in Engineering from the
University of Cambridge in 1995, and his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering
and Computer Science from MIT under Professor Robert Gallager in 2001. He
is currently an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering, Computer
Science, and Statistics at Yale University
.
Professor Yeh is a member of the Steering Committee for IEEE International
Conference on Smart Grid Communications (SmartGridComm).  He is the
recipient of a Humboldt Research Fellowship, an Army Research Office Young
Investigator Award, the Winston Churchill Scholarship, the National
Science Foundation and Office of Naval Research Graduate Fellowships, the
Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, the Frederick Emmons Terman Engineering
Scholastic Award, and the President's Award for Academic Excellence
(Stanford University). He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi.