Who
Dr. Haitham Abu-Rub, professor and managing director of the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station Smart Grid Center at Texas A&M University at Qatar.
What
Abu-Rub and his team are collaborating on a project to combine hybrid renewable energy sources such as solar and wind with different energy storage technologies. The goal of this project is to develop a control technique that can manage all components (sources, loads, etc.) in the microgrid in harmony. It means that the developed control technique not only ensures stability, but also efficient use of resources is guaranteed.
A microgrid is a localized group of electricity that can connect with the power grid, but can also disconnect and function on its own if needed (islanded). Microgrids are the building blocks of the smart grid and they play a crucial role in energy conservation and the power reliability, efficiency and quality of power systems.
This project is set apart from others because the team’s focus is on developing a control and management strategy for multiple microgrids – grid-connected or islanded – and also considers realistic inputs of hybrid renewable energy sources into the grid. The idea is to increase the integration of renewable energy sources within the microgrids and to reduce their reliance on the main electric grid. To do this, the team is implementing an internal energy exchange algorithm.
“The effectiveness of the proposed control and management system is that it is online, real-time and dynamic,” Abu-Rub said.
The project is funded by Qatar National Research fund.
Why it’s important
This project has numerous social, health, economic and environmental benefits such as the expansion of renewable energy sources, achieving a more energy-efficient power grid, a low carbon foot print, the creation of new jobs and more.
“A multinational team with high experience are partnering in this research which makes it very interesting,” Abu-Rub said.
The Team
The research team also includes Dr. Miroslav Begovic, department head and Carolyn S. & Tommie E. Lohman ‘59 Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University; Dr. Sergio Vazquez and Dr. Leopoldo Garcia Franquelo from the Universidad de Sevilla in electronics engineering; and Dr. Sertac Bayhan, senior scientist at Qatar Environment and Research Institute.