CIGRE UK NGN Young Members Showcase – The Winners

  • 8
  • 17th February 2021
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The NGN Committee of CIGRE UK hosted an online presentation competition on 5th February 2021 to select the best UK young professionals to present at the upcoming CIGRE Centennial Paris Session in August 2021. The Paris Session includes a Young Member (YM) showcase for young professionals to present their contributions to CIGRE’s domains of work before an audience of leading experts from all around the world.

The NGN steering committee assessed abstracts and invited seven candidates to present their work at the presentation competition. Each presentation was judged by a panel of four senior CIGRE UK members, including Dr. Diptargha Chakravorty, Dr. Qiteng Hong, John Wright, and Dr. Konstantinos Kopsidas. Winners of the competition were nominated to attend the 2021 Centennial Paris Session and receive free tickets and a bursary towards travel if approved by the international CIGRE NGN committee.

The CIGRE UK NGN committee is delighted to announce the four winning candidates are:

 

Harry Evans1

Harry Evans, graduate electrical engineer at GHD, for their presentation entitled “Boston Spa Energy Efficiency Trial.”

Bio: Harry is a consultant electrical engineer working within GHD’s Energy team. During his time at the company, he has worked on a range of projects covering: SMART grid design of distribution networks; power systems modelling of generation connections; and he has co-authored a review into emerging transmission technologies. Harry has gained experience outside of his role at GHD in the development of fault level calculation code for application in offshore wind farm design software, and a continuing role as a contributing member to CIGRE WG B4.89.

Synopsis:What if a relatively small change at a substation level could reduce the regions carbon emissions and shrink customer bills? NPGs voltage optimisation trial in the town of Boston Spa is hoping to achieve just that. This presentation covers the initial stages of the project, which investigated static optimisation of substation voltages, and how customer smart meter data can be used to monitor and control the network more efficiently.

 

Rui Jing1Dr. Rui Jing, research associate at Cardiff University, for their presentation entitled “Planning extreme weather resilient urban energy systems.”

Bio:Dr. Rui Jing is a Research Associate in Cardiff University working with Prof. Nick Jenkins and Prof. Jianzhong Wu. His research focuses on multi-energy system modelling, urban energy transition, climate resilience energy systems, and energy-related nexus research. He got a Ph.D. from Xiamen University, China in 2019. He also has visiting experience in Imperial College London (2018-2019), research experience in the Chinese Academy of Science (2019-2020), and industry experience in energy auditing consultancy (2013-2015). So far, he has more than 20 journal publications, and the H-index is 11. He is also active in academic activities, e.g. acting as session chair for international conferences and serving as reviewers for more than 10 journals. He was recognized for several best paper awards and several outstanding reviewer awards.

Synopsis:Global climate change leads to more frequent and intense extreme weather events, such as typhoons, heatwaves, and rainstorms, which has posed serious risks for urban energy systems. Without preparation for such risks, the city administrators can only hope the next extreme weather event would not trigger a sudden blackout. Therefore, we propose an original planning model to design a ‘climate-resilient’ urban energy system and bridge the gap of addressing extreme weathers during energy system planning. The case study reveals that by investing an acceptable extra 3-5% could help design  a  ‘climate-resilient’ urban energy system.

 

Caleb Waler1Caleb Walker, graduate engineer at Scottish Power, for their presentation entitled “Accurate Prediction of Transformer Residual Life.”

Bio: Having graduated from Glasgow Caledonian University with a First BEng in Electrical Power Engineering in 2020, I am currently employed as a graduate engineer with SP Energy Networks.

Synopsis: The ageing process of power transformers is a complex mechanism, which means condition and health assessment of these critical assets is a challenging task. While transformers are in-service, obtaining insulating paper samples from the windings for direct analysis cannot easily be achieved, meaning the only practical way of assessing the state of degradation of the paper insulation is through prediction models. A new prediction method is currently being developed using Post-Mortem reports to give a more accurate estimate of the remaining useful life of transformers compared to existing methods, thus avoiding costly interventions or replacement of these high value assets.

 

Shuren WangDr. Shuren Wang, research associate at the University of Strathclyde, for their presentation entitled “A T-Type Modular Multilevel Converter (T-MMC) to Improve System Security.”

Bio: Shuren Wang is a researcher of the Electronic & Electrical Engineering Department at University of Strathclyde. He received the B.Sc. (Hons.) and M.Sc. (Distinguished) degrees from Yangzhou University, China, and the Ph.D. degree from University of Strathclyde, U.K.. His current research interests include power conversion, power electronics, MVDC, HVDC, and energy storage systems.

Synopsis: Power electronic converters are enabling massive integration of renewable energy sources. Meanwhile, system security and fault resiliency are increasingly concerned. A T-Type Modular Multilevel Converter (T-MMC) using state-of-the-art power electronic technology will be presented for bulk ac-dc power conversion applications. The salient features of the proposed T-MMC include: (1) resiliency against ac and dc faults; (2) effective ac grid support; (3) high operation efficiency; (4) flexible and efficient energy storage integration; (5) uninterruptable power flow during faults with the integrated energy storage.

 

Keep an eye out as we are due to hear back about the success of the nominated candidates in the coming months.