The Centre of Excellence in Power Engineering

Director: Prof Vassilios G Agelidis

The Centre of Excellence in Power Engineering

As ageing of existing power systems worldwide presents unprecedented challenges to engineers and managers alike, continuous and fault free operation of the electrical grid and the power system infrastructure in general depends upon the development of new technologies. These new technologies include information systems, communication systems and advanced power electronics which all need to be integrated in an innovative way to achieve the much desired intelligent grid. The intelligent grid of the future will have a higher integration of renewable energy generation, will be able to “heal” itself, predict and divert problems and advice of corrective measures based on sophisticated monitoring and diagnostics technologies and information processing systems.  It is important to note that energy systems in general and renewable energy systems in particular, are a key area promising to further support our path towards a more sustainable economic and social development in the future.

The research activities of the power engineering group focus on intelligent grid, power transmission technologies, integration of renewable energy generation with the grid and advanced power electronics systems.  The research direction is influenced by industry.  Industrial links are in place with a number of companies at state and national level, including EnergyAustralia, the sponsor of the Chair in Power Engineering.  At international level, strong links with ABB (Sweden) a leading company in electrical engineering are in place, through a funded research and development program for work on advanced power transmission technologies and power electronics applications into intelligent grids.  Students working under the ABB-supported research program are expected to spend a minimum of three months working in cooperation with colleagues from the ABB Corporate Research Centre in Västerås, Sweden.

Power factor correction, multi-dimensional control, soft switching techniques, synthesis and modelling of power electronics circuits.

(Researcher: Prof V Agelidis, Dr D Lu, Dr S Sathiakumar, Dr Y Shrivastava and A/Prof S Simpson)