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Studies that open new possibilities into some of the gripping issues in the scientific domain have transformed SRM University-AP into the epicentre of cutting-edge research and investigations. We are proud to announce that Dr B Lokeshgupta, Assistant Professor of the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering has won the Best Paper Award at IEEE Second International Conference on Power, Control and Computing Technologies ICPC²T 2022 held at NIT Raipur, Chhattisgarh. The paper titled “Reliability Improvement of a Radial Distribution System Considering Load Modeling and Energy Management” was co-authored by Dr S Sivasubramani and Mr. Ram Prakash from IIT, Patna. The research gives new insight into energy management and power consumption patterns.

Abstract of the Research

Increasing energy demand and recent advancements in electrical and distributed generation (DG) technology have made power systems complex. Therefore, the reliability assessment is important for efficient planning and operation of distribution networks. The system reliability can be improved with optimal DG integration and energy management schemes. This work mainly studies the impact of optimal DG planning with an energy management scheme on the reliability of radial distribution network. Usually, the reliability of a power system is evaluated using the distribution system reliability indices which are based on load point and customers. The voltage-dependent load model and time-varying load profile for different load classes are included in this work for pragmatic planning. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is used to find the optimal site and size of DG units and optimal scheduling of the shiftable loads. The proposed model of optimal DG allocation with energy management is evaluated with a case-based analysis. The modified IEEE 33-bus distribution system is considered in this model to demonstrate the improvement of reliability and operational parameters. Simulation results verify the efficacy of the model.

About the Research

In recent decades, a high load growth rate and frequently changing power consumption patterns are observed due to urbanization and industrialization. Also, the increasing penetration of renewable-based DG has caused a significant mismatch between power generation and electricity demand pattern. This mismatch introduces reliability and power quality issues with loss of energy and revenue to the utilities in power systems. Thus, various energy management programs are carried out by utilities to encourage consumers to change their load patterns. This paper proposes a reliability improvement technique in a radial distribution system by optimal planning of disperse generation and energy management programme.

Social Implication

The research proposes an offline algorithm for the efficient planning and operation of radial distribution networks. Simultaneous deployment of distribution generation (DG) and energy management system (EMS) makes the network more reliable compared to just DG allocation. Application of DG and EMS also improves other operational parameters of the network like power loss and voltage profile.

In future, the energy management concept can be extended with the inclusion of neighbourhood power-sharing model in the environment of multiple smart home consumers and prosumers.

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“As an undergraduate student, I initially faced many difficulties selecting the area of interest, analysing and organising a paper, and academic writing skills. The continuous support from faculty at SRM university-AP helped me overcome these issues. This achievement would have been impossible without the support and efforts of my faculty mentors. My heartful gratitude to Dr Shubh Lakshmi madam and Dr Tousif Khan N sir for their kind support and encouragement in research work. I am grateful to start my research career under their guidance. Also, the management encourages and supports us every time in every possible way by providing scholarships.”
–Pendem Manoj Sai

A paper titled “Exhaustive Search Approach to Place PV in Distribution Network for Power Loss Minimization” has been awarded STEM-Research Society Best Paper Award in the recently held conference, Soft Computing: Theories and Applications (SoCTA)-2021, at the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Kota on the dates December 17-19, 2021. The authors of the paper are- P Manoj Sai, M Dhana Sai Baji, Dr Shubh Lakshmi, and Dr Tousif Khan Nizami from the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, School of Engineering and Sciences, SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh, India. The paper is selected for publication in Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, Springer (Indexed in SCOPUS).

This paper proposes an exhaustive search approach to determine the best location and size of PV placement for power loss minimisation of radial distribution networks. In this approach, the network power loss is determined by placing PV in each location, one at a time, and the size of PV in the same location is varied between a set minimum and maximum limits. The combination of location and size of PV, which provide the minimum network power loss, can be the best location and size of PV for power loss minimisation of radial distribution networks. The forward-backwards sweep load flow algorithm with the PV model is used to determine the power loss for each combination of location and size of PV.

The paper was presented by Mr P Manoj Sai, a BTech EEE 4th year student from SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh. He is thrilled to receive the best paper award and extended his gratitude to Dr Tousif Khan N, the Head of the Department, and Dr Shubh Lakshmi, Assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, for their continuous guidance. Further, he extended his thanks to the management and Pro Vice-chancellor of SRM University-AP for providing financial support.

Nowadays, the energy demand of the present electrical power industry is increasing exponentially, and most of the electricity production depends on fossil fuel resources. A research paper titled “Dynamic Economic and Emission Dispatch with Renewable Energy Integration Under Uncertainties and Demand Side Management”, published by Dr B Lokeshgupta, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh, answers some of the pertinent questions regarding reducing the environmental pollution level.

Integration of renewable energy resources (RERs) along with demand-side management (DSM) is almost inevitable in the present scenario to meet the growing energy demand with minimum environmental pollution. This work proposes a combined model of dynamic economic and emission dispatch (DEED) and DSM to integrate renewable energy resources (RERs). In this analysis, the DSM load-shifting scheme is incorporated with the DEED problem to obtain the generation side operational benefits as well as the reduction in environmental pollution level. In this study, various smart home appliances and their complex constraints are included in the DSM load shifting process. The variability and stochastic nature of the load demand and RERs such as solar, wind are modelled with Normal, Beta, and Weibull distribution functions, respectively. The proposed model is implemented in both deterministic and stochastic approaches with the help of the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) and the Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) approach. In the stochastic model, the MCS approach appropriately handles the uncertainties of system load demand and RERs. Four different case studies are carried out in the simulation analysis to show the impacts of RERs and DSM integration on the traditional DEED problem.

Meeting the excessive energy demand with the minimum environmental pollution is a challenging task. The integration of RERs such as wind and solar into the grid is one of the superior solutions for this issue. However, the variability and uncertainty of the RERs bring challenges to the power system operation. Energy management schemes such as demand-side management (DSM) methods can help the power industry address the challenges of RERs integration. That is why the combination of renewable energy integration and DSM is one of the key solutions in the smart grid environment to meet the increased energy demand with the lowest possible energy cost and minimum pollution level. The RERs and DSM combination gives several financial, environmental, and technical benefits to the power industry along with a better system operation.

The dynamic economic and emission dispatch (DEED) is one of the widely adopted tools in the operation and planning of power systems. Both DEED and DSM are the essential tools in the smart grid environment for efficient energy management with the concern of economic and environmental aspects. The DEED’s primary task is to obtain the optimal scheduling of generators with minimum cost and emission for the given load demand. At the same time, the DSM’s primary goal is to improve the optimal values of system objective functions by shifting or managing the controllable loads of consumers. This work introduces a combined stochastic optimisation model of DEED and DSM scheme with the integration of solar and wind energy to show how DSM and RERs bring benefits to a generation company, and also to get better optimal operation cost and emission values simultaneously. The DSM load-shifting scheme is implemented in this study with the help of 10,000 active residential consumers. The effectiveness of the proposed combined model has been tested on a system of six thermal generating units, one wind-powered generator, and one solar-powered generator. The MCS approach and NSGA-II method are used in this paper to solve the proposed stochastic combined DEED and DSM optimisation model.

From the overall analysis, it is recognized that the implementation of the DSM load-shifting scheme along with RERs integration is essential for future smart grids to improve the financial savings of generation companies as well as to reduce the environmental pollution level. The paper is written in collaboration with Dr S Sivasubramani, Associate Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Patna.

In future, the proposed DSM optimisation can be extended with the inclusion of a neighbourhood power-sharing model in the environment of multiple smart home consumers and prosumers. The proposed DSM model can also be integrated with the distribution network planning and operation problems to enhance the financial and technical benefits of distribution companies.

The Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at SRM University-AP organized a guest lecture titled “DC-DC Converters: Operation, Modelling and Control for Solar and Wind Applications” on December 3, 2021, at 11.00 am IST as part of the Departmental Lecture Series.

An eminent resource person, Dr. Ravindranath Adda, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, IIT Guwahati, delivered the intriguing talk as the guest lecture. Many undergraduate students of EEE, research scholars and faculty members of SRM University-AP attended the riveting session.

In his lecture, Dr Adda discussed about the importance of DC-DC converters for solar PV and Wind power applications and emphasized the different non-isolated and isolated converter topologies. He also explained the output power variation of the solar PV or wind turbine as a function of weather conditions, and hence the requirement of DC-DC converters and storage systems to transfer the energy from non-conventional energy sources.

Finally, he discussed about the research scope of DC-DC converters, to increase gain, expedite efficiency, reduce the bulk, dynamic modelling, and large scale and small-scale modelling of DC-DC converters.

The lecture concluded with an energetic note with all the participants looking forward to putting to use all the knowledge and information that they had acquired because of it.

Dr Somesh Vinayak Tewari delivered an invited talk on “High Power Closing Switches” on November 25, 2021, during the Workshop on Pulse Power Technology and Applications (WSPPTA-2021) held from November 25, 2021, to November 27, 2021, at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) Facility, Visakhapatnam, sponsored by Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS), Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India in association with Power Beam Society of India.

The workshop served as a platform for pedagogical presentations, discussions on intricacies of pulsed power technology and mutual interactions among young researchers, engineers and students from academia and applied research laboratories and talks were delivered by scientists of BARC, IPR, DRDO, CEERI, professors from IIT, IISc and experts from industry.

Dr Tewari delivered a talk on “High Power Closing Switches”, highlighting the working principle, mechanism, and applications of vacuum switches like ignitron, thyratron, pseudo spark gap, gas-filled spark gap switches, liquid and solid dielectric switches, magnetic switches, and modern-day semiconductor switches.

After his talk, Dr Tewari was highly appreciated and felicitated by Dr D. C. Pande, Dr Raja Ramana Distinguished Fellow of DRDO. The proceedings were compiled in the form of book chapters and circulated to participants.