Abstract- During its more than 100 years of existence, the electric power system has been faced with various challenges, which had to be overcome to shape the system as we know it. Due to effective cooperation between the power industry, universities and other research institutions, we have, today, in many parts of the world a system that provides users with high quality, reliable power at affordable prices. The list of technical, economical, and regulatory issues that have been solved is virtually endless and continuous and close teamwork between different stakeholders has been essential in this success story. In order to tackle future challenges it is of utmost importance this cooperation be continued and be more interactive so the research community can play a pivotal role in this important task.

This lecture will first present a brief historical overview of how research results have had significant influence on the development of the electric power system. Second, the most salient challenges, according to the speaker, the power system is faced with will be discussed. Examples to be presented are handling of uncertainties and risks, data management, interaction with other energy systems, consumer behavior, various implications of technical changes, and cyber security. Many of these challenges would require new approaches, system designs and controls, system and component models, or new analytical and computational techniques to be effectively resolved.

Further, a model for cooperation and interaction between industry and research institutions will be sketched. Even if the overall goal of all stakeholders is the same, they have different roles to play and this must acknowledged in the set-up of the cooperative projects.

About the Speaker: Professor Göran Andersson was born in Malmö, Sweden. He obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. degree from the University of Lund in 1975 and 1980, respectively. In 1980, he joined ASEA’s, now ABB, HVDC division in Ludvika, Sweden, where he worked with design and control HVDC systems. In 1986 he was appointed full professor in electric power systems at KTH (Royal Institute of Technology), Stockholm, Sweden. Since 2000 he has been a full professor in electric power systems at ETH Zürich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) where he heads the Power Systems Laboratory. His research interests are in power system analysis and control, in particular power systems dynamics and control involving HVDC and other power electronics based equipment. Another research direction concerns future energy systems and integration of fluctuating renewable power sources.

Göran Andersson is a Fellow of IEEE, Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences, and Foreign Member of the US National Academy of Engineering. He was the recipient of the IEEE PES Outstanding Power Engineering Educator Award 2007, the George Montefiore International Award 2010, and the IEEE PES Prabha S. Kundur Power System Dynamics and Control Award.

He will receive an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Waterloo in June 2017.

Host Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Cost: Free