PV-Rich Communities, Storage, and Flexibility: The Need for Distribution System Operators

Type: Technical Lecture Series
Title: PV-Rich Communities, Storage, and Flexibility: The Need for Distribution System Operators – IEEE PES Distinguished Lecture
Speaker: Prof. Luis (Nando) Ochoa , PhD

Date: 14th June 2017
Time: 17:30 – 18:30
Location: F14, Renold Building, Sackville Street, Manchester M1 3BU

Free Refreshments will be provided for all attendees.

LECTURE DETAILS:

Australia has seen in the last few years, a rapid adoption of residential-scale photovoltaic (PV) systems. Householders and communities are attracted to the benefits from generating their own electricity. Battery storage systems are also becoming attractive as they allow storing excess PV generation during the day to use it later at night.

PV-rich communities will pose significant technical and economic challenges on distribution networks – but also some opportunities. For this PV-rich future to thrive, more intelligent, flexible electricity networks, also known as Smart Grids, are likely to play an important role. If Smart Grids were to emerge, the traditional Distribution Network Service Provider (DNSP) needs to evolve into an engaged, flexible Distribution System Operator (DSO) in which network elements and participants (consumers, generators, and those that do both) are actively managed to fulfil technical, economic, and environmental objectives.

This talk will present and discuss the different challenges of PV-rich communities and the role of storage and other technologies in creating more flexibility at different scales. The Distribution System Operator (DSO) vision, potential future roles, and the perceived challenges to ensure the corresponding transition will also be presented and discussed.

SPEAKER’S BIOGRAPHY:

Prof. Luis (Nando) Ochoa

Luis (Nando) Ochoa is Professor of Smart Grids and Power Systems at The University of Melbourne, Australia and part-time Professor of Smart Grids at The University of Manchester, UK. His has expertise in network integration of low carbon technologies. He has an extensive portfolio of industrial and academic projects which led to publication of 130+ academic articles, 50+ technical reports, and one patent filed by Psymetrix Ltd.

Prof. Ochoa is an IEEE PES Distinguished Lecturer and has also several leadership roles within IEEE PES including Member-At-Large of the Governing Board. He is an Editorial Board Member of the IEEE Power and Energy Magazine. Prof Ochoa is an IEEE Senior Member since 2012.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from UNI (Peru), and a Research MSc and a PhD in Electrical Power Engineering, both from UNESP Ilha Solteira (Brazil). He is also a Visiting Professor at UNICAMP (Brazil) since 2014.

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