High-performance electric-powered race cars are an outstanding application of motor controls, power electronics, and energy management system. These battery-powered cars have a maximum power of 200 kW and can reach speeds of over 225 mph. Learn more about Learn more about this exciting new form of auto racing in these YouTube videos:
Cover picture: By Smokeonthewater – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
What’s the largest thing ever built by humans? It isn’t the internet, it is the electric grid. Still 20% of the world has no access to electricity. Tackling this issue in an integrated approach can have profound educational benefits at home and abroad by training local solar engineers and pairing access to power with schools.
In December, IEEE Spectrum published an article on the now-underway NordLink project, which will result in a new high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) link between Norway and Germany. A new Spectrum article reveals that the project is on schedule to be completed in 2019, and will travel a total of 623 km, making it the longest HVDC line in Europe. And with a 1400 MW capacity, it will also be the most powerful HVDC line in Europe.
The new Spectrum article highlights the three primary incentives for the project, from and electrical point of view:
Firstly, the HVDC converters have the ability to connect two non-synchronized grids, thereby linking the frequency of the two separated electrical zones represented by the Nordic and continental grids. Secondly, the HVDC connection makes it possible to transmit electricity over long distances with minimum losses. In fact, it is not even possible to transport alternating current (AC) over long distances subsea due to capacitive losses. Finally, the VSC-HVDC converter stations have full STATCOM (Static Synchronous Compensator) functionality to support the AC network at the Norwegian and German point of common coupling.
You can visit the official ABB site on Nordlink here.
Six proposed lagoon power plants in the UK aim to harness sustainable and predictable tidal power to provide up to 8% of the UK’s energy demand by 2022. Read the article watch a video on how tidal power plants are built and operated at this link from the BBC.
Source – BBC News / bbc.co.uk – © 2015 BBC
Advancing Service Restoration via Smart Grid Technologies
A three-minute presentation from PhD students Mike Kleinberg, Christian Schegan, and Nicole Segal.
