Subventions et des contributions :

Subvention ou bourse octroyée s'appliquant à plus d'un exercice financier. (2017-2018 à 2022-2023)

The limited supply of fossil fuel-based energies, and growing global concerns about the imminence of climate change are a leading cause as to why wind and solar are the fastest growing sources of energy in Canada. As renewable energy production increases, the stability of the grid system will experience detrimental impacts due to the intermittent nature of wind and solar energy. The irregularity of renewable energy can cause fluctuations in the grid voltage and grid frequency, and these fluctuations may jeopardize system stability. For instance, in Germany, once solar energy production reached 8% of their total energy production, they began to see a significant amount of fluctuations in their grid voltage and grid frequency.

In North America, wind and solar energy penetration is low compared to other sources of energy. Currently, wind energy is responsible for producing only 3.5% of electricity, and solar energy accounts for less than 1% in Canada. Since the penetration of wind and solar energy has been limited in North America as of yet, harmful effects on the grid system have been negligible. However, in the near future these adverse effects will no longer be negligible, because of the urgency to replace mainstream power generation with renewable energy. Thus, the integration of renewable energy into the grid system is posing a greater challenge as renewable energy installations continue to grow.

In order to avoid instability and absorb the grid fluctuations, the common approach has been to install high power grid stabilizers in the transmission and distribution network. However, this approach has multiple disadvantages: the infrastructure is very costly, inefficient, not scalable, and requires a substantial amount of maintenance.

The main objective of the proposed research program is to provide solutions that will actively absorb grid fluctuations and stabilize the grid system through the use of power electronic converters. Power electronic converters are requisite components of renewable energy systems, and operate as a grid interface. Since power electronic converters are a part of the existing infrastructure of renewable energy systems, the cost and scalability of this approach is a vast improvement over the common approach. This research aims to deliver more intelligent “next generation” power electronic converters for renewable energy systems that can address the aforementioned difficulties at the site of origin. These next generation power electronic converters will utilize new control systems that enable them to support the grid system. Thus, the main objective of this research program is to develop novel advanced identification algorithms and adaptive control schemes to achieve these goals. The proposed research program will directly benefit the Canadian energy sector by seamlessly integrating renewable energy into the grid system, without adding costly grid infrastructure.