Dr. Jian Sun of The University of Auckland

Power electronics are becoming ubiquitous in the power grid, driven largely by the rapid development of renewable energy in recent years. In addition to providing power conversion, control and grid interface functions for PV and wind turbines, power electronics also enable new grid infrastructures and energy storage, both of which are necessary for supporting large-scale renewable development. With many countries pledging to carbon neutrality in less than 30 years, the grid will be increasingly dominated by renewables and inevitably evolve into a converter-based power system that is in sharp contrast to today’s grid based on synchronous generators. This talk gives a general overview of power electronics applications in power systems, discusses fundamental differences between converters and machines in the context of power system stability, and sheds some lights on possible ways to design and control a converter-based power system.

Biography:

 joined the faculty at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 2002, where he is currently a Professor in the Department of Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering. He is also Director of the Center for Future Energy Systems (CFES) funded by New York State government. His research interests are in the general area of power electronics and energy conversion, with an emphasis on modeling, control, and different applications including renewable energy and power systems.

Dr. Sun received his Dr.-Ing. Degree from the University of Paderborn in Germany. Prior to joining the faculty at RPI, he spent five years at Rockwell Collins working on power electronics for aircraft power systems, and was a Post-Doc Fellow at Georgia Tech from 1996 to 1997. As Director of CFES, he is responsible for the strategic directions and development of the Center’s research, industry collaboration, education, and outreach programs. His professional services to the power electronics community included serving as Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Power Electronics Letters from 2008 to 2014 and as Treasurer of IEEE Power Electronics Society since 2013. He is also an active consultant to the industry and has worked in that capacity with many international corporations including GE Aviation, Rockwell International, United Technologies, Facebook, GE Power, First Solar, China State Grid, and TenneT.

Dr. Sun received the IEEE PELS Modeling and Control Technical Achievements Award in 2013 and the R. David Middlebrook Outstanding Achievement Award in 2017. He is a Fellow of IEEE.

Email:

Address:Professor, Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York State , United States