Opportunities and Challenges in Power Flow Control in a Modern Grid
The use of electricity is increasing rapidly due to the fast adoption of mega-sized data centers, electric vehicles, etc. To combat the greenhouse effect, the generation of renewable energy is also skyrocketing. However, the other important piece of the puzzle is to transport electricity from where it is generated to where it is used in load centers in the most reliable, efficient and affordable way. The power industry’s pressing need to transfer bulk power along a desired path may be met by building new transmission lines, which is a long and costly process. Alternatively, it may be quicker and cheaper to identify the underutilized transmission lines and harness their dormant capacity to increase the power flows to the lines’ thermal limits by using a properly-designed power flow controller. Also, the grid congestion can be mitigated by holding the power flow in a line at its design limit, instead of tripping the line and possibly initiating a cascaded failure of the grid as it happened in 2003. The presentation will cover basic principles of power flow control theory, an overview of the most commonly used power flow controllers, their merits and demerits, and future trends.
The presentation will be of particular interest to all utility power engineering professionals, academicians and researchers. The audience will hear from an expert who actually designed and commissioned a number of power electronics-based FACTS controllers since its inception in the 1990s.
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- Starts 24 April 2026 04:00 AM UTC
- Ends 14 July 2026 10:00 PM UTC
- No Admission Charge
Speakers
Kalyan Sen
Opportunities and Challenges in Power Flow Control in a Modern Grid
Biography:
Kalyan Sen is the President & Chief Technology Officer of Sen Engineering Solutions, Inc. (www.sentransformer.com) that specializes in developing SMART power flow controllers—a functional requirements-based and cost-effective solution. Kalyan was an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at Prairie View A&M University during 1987-90 and spent the next 30 years in industry, starting at Westinghouse Science & Technology Center (STC) in 1990 and retiring from Fluor (formerly Westinghouse) in 2020. He was a key member of the Flexible Alternating Current Transmission Systems (FACTS) development team at the Westinghouse-STC for which he became a Westinghouse Fellow Engineer. He contributed to concept development, simulation, design, and commissioning of FACTS projects at Westinghouse. He conceived some of the basic concepts in power flow control technology for which he was elevated to the IEEE Fellow grade with the citation: for the development and application of power flow control technology. He is the Co-inventor of the Sen Transformer, which is commercially available to regulate ±6.5 MVA line power in a 33 kV line.
Kalyan holds BEE (1982), MSEE (1983), and PhD (1987) degrees, all in Electrical Engineering, from Jadavpur University, Tuskegee University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, respectively, and an MBA (2012) from Robert Morris University. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in Pennsylvania and New York. He has been serving as an IEEE PES Distinguished Lecturer since 2002. In that capacity, he has given presentations on power flow control technology more than 250 times in 20 countries. He serves IEEE SSIT Board of Governors as Education Committee Chair and President-Elect (2025-2026). He also serves IEEE Region 2 as its Professional Activities Chair. Kalyan has authored or coauthored more than 25 peer-reviewed publications, 8 issued patents, 2 books, and 3 book chapters in the areas of power flow control and power electronics. He is the Coauthor of the book titled, Introduction to FACTS Controllers: Theory, Modeling, and Applications (978-0-470-47875-2), IEEE Press and John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2009, which is also published in Chinese and Indian paperback editions. His second book is titled, Power Flow Control Solutions for a Modern Grid using SMART Power Flow Controllers (ISBN: 978-1-119-82435-0), IEEE Press and John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2022. Kalyan served twice as a Fulbright Specialist (sponsored by the U.S. Government) and a GIAN Scholar (sponsored by the Government of India).