Khalifa University of Science and Technology, the Abu Dhabi Transmission and Dispatch company (TRANSCO) and the Manitoba Hydro International Ltd (MHI) of Canada, have signed a collaboration agreement today for building an industrial-level software to monitor, predict, and interact with network operators in real time and enable renewable energy integration with the UAE power system.
The collaboration was announced during the World Future Energy Summit (WFES) 2019 that is being held as part of the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) 2019 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center (ADNEC) from 12-19 January. The agreement signing ceremony was attended by Dr Arif Sultan Al Hammadi, Executive Vice-President, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Dr Bruce Stedall, Acting Managing Director, TRANSCO, Leo St. Hilaire, Senior Manager, and Jamal Al Dharif, Senior Executive from MHI’s UAE Office, officials, faculty members and students.
The industrial level software – ‘Stability Assessment, Visualization and Enhancement’ (SAVE) tool – will utilize real-time measurements to evaluate the transmission network stability through the development of state-of-the-art mathematical methods combined with a data analytics based classification engine to precisely estimate the domain of stability and to predict the transient margins.
Furthermore, a visualization system will be developed by a team of scientific researchers to support human-in-the-loop classification, diagnosis of the transmission system events, and the visualization of system stability. The integrating modules of SAVE tool that current researchers have already been investigating, have accumulated comprehensive expertise, enabling them to reach industrial level platforms.
Dr Arif Sultan Al Hammadi, said: “This industry-academia collaboration led by Khalifa University with TRANSCO and Manitoba Hydro International reflects the partners’ commitment to develop innovative technologies that can integrate renewable energy with the existing systems. Power system stability is particularly relevant given the objective of Abu Dhabi and the UAE to significantly increase the penetration of renewable energy. The recent completion of GCC power interconnections between the UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia has significantly highlighted the need for inter-area oscillations (IAOs) for greater stability. We believe this collaboration that lays emphasis on innovations such as the SAVE tool, will tackle the complexity of the challenges in integrating renewable energy with the existing power system.”
Dr Bruce Stedall said: “We are very pleased and excited to be working with Khalifa University and Manitoba Hydro International on this project. The generation portfolio is going to change considerably in the coming years to include substantial volumes of renewable energy sources as Abu Dhabi and the wider UAE migrate to a low carbon economy. The project will support TRANSCO by ensuring that certain technical challenges resulting from the changes in the generation portfolio associated with security and stability of the system can be managed. As part of the project, we will also be developing the knowledge and capability of our future engineers to cope with systems employing large penetration of renewable technology.”
Dr. Dharshana Muthumuni, Managing Director, Power Systems Technology Centre at MHI, said, “MHI is proud to partner with Khalifa University and TRANSCO on this significant initiative that will undoubtedly help the integration and reliable operation of power systems with large scale renewable energy sources. We are particularly pleased to collaborate with Khalifa University’s highly-skilled team, with whom we have had a long and thriving association.”
Dr. Mohamed El Moursi, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Khalifa University, is the Principal Investigator and the Project Manager, He is a specialist in renewable energy systems (photovoltaic and wind) and smart grid innovations. He will be joined by Dr. Surour Mohamed Alaraifi, main researcher from TRANSCO, who, during his PhD studies at Khalifa University under Prof. El Moursi, developed novel techniques to study and predict the dynamics in large-scale networks that will serve as one of the key elements in this research project. Others include Dr. Ahmed Atiah, Power Network Planning & Studies Section Manager, TRANSCO, as well as Dr. Dharshana Muthumuni, Managing Director, Manitoba High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) Research Centre, and Dr. Farid Mosallat.
The project requires complex multi-disciplinary integration of power system stability, power electronics, renewable energy systems, system control, data mining/ analytics, algorithms/ optimization and artificial intelligence.