Dr. Sukumar Brahma of Clemson University - Electrical Engineering

Power system protection has been conceived and refined through decades of innovation and experience. However, the underlying assumptions behind all protection design and implementation have been that the faulted power system behaves as a linear system, and load currents can be neglected compared to fault currents. These assumptions are under scrutiny as more and more renewables connect at transmission and distribution levels. Renewable generation like solar and wind connect through power converters. The response of the renewable generation to faults depends largely on the converter controls. The controls restrict the fault currents to values comparable to load currents, and can also control the power factor of the fault current. Such response creates problems with various protection functions, and system analysis that underpin the design of some of the protection functions. This presentation will describe the challenges in detail for both transmission and distribution systems, including microgrids, and offer insight into some potential solutions.

Biography:

Sukumar Brahma received his Bachelor of Engineering from Gujarat University, Master of Technology from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and PhD in from Clemson University; all in Electrical Engineering. He joined Clemson university as the Dominion Energy Distinguished Professor of Power Engineering in August 2018. Before joining Clemson he was William Kersting Endowed Chair Professor at New Mexico State University, USA. Dr. Brahma has chaired IEEE Power and Energy Society's Power and Energy Education Committee, Life Long Learning Subcommittee and Distribution System Analysis Subcommittee. He is a member of the Power System Relaying and Control Committee (PSRCC), where he has been contributing to and leading working groups that produce reports, guides and standards in the area of power system protection. He has been an editor for IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, and served as Guest Editor-in-Chief for the Special Issue on Frontiers of Power System Protection for the journal. His research, widely published and funded by the National Science Foundation, US department of energy, utilities, and other government agencies has focused on different aspects of power system modeling, analysis, and protection. Dr. Brahma is a Distinguished Lecturer and a Fellow of the IEEE.