Transforming Education in Electric Energy Systems Marija Ilic - ecedha

Transforming Education in Electric Energy
Systems
Marija Ilic
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
and Engineering and Public Policy
milic@ece.cmu.edu
ECEDHA Energy Workshop
November 1,2010

Outline
Boom-and-bust cycles of electric energy systems
education in the United States
Difficult initial conditions
Societal transformational changes ---
implementing sustainable Socio-Ecological Energy
Systems (SEES)
The transformational role of man-made power
grids and its Information Communications
Technology (ICT)?

Many boom-and-bust cycles in the US electric energy
education
Boom #1 : The biggest contribution of the 20 th century –
electrification; Well established programs (even entire
departments on electric power engineering—RPI).
Bust #1: Closing of power engineering programs and labs at
leading universities; education and research on life support.
Boom #2: Restructuring of electric power industry--- economics,
policy disciplines gain recognition. Engineering knowledge
assumed.
Bust #2: Restructuring problems –markets ``not working’’—
they never were designed nor implemented to support physics of
electric power grids.
Boom #3: Energy and environment emerge as key social goals.
Young minds very excited and motivated to make the vision a
reality.
Bust#3--??? The biggest danger--- overwhelming complexity;
change driven by technology breakthroughs, social drivers. A
very real danger of not meeting the expectations.

Difficult Initial Initial Conditions Conditions
For a long time not recognized as the key intellectual
discipline
- complexity of problems the same as in integrated circuits,
healthcare, transportation, and many other complex network
systems.
Hard to attract the best young minds
- funding and institutional encouragement lacking
- electric power industry has not offered the most exciting jobs
- non-competitive salaries
``The only industry in which it is impossible to do
innovation’’ (quote from a major venture capitalist)
Moving forward--Requires patience and
perseverance

Transformational Social Changes:
Natural Socio-Ecological Energy Systems
(SEES) interacting with the man-made
infrastructures
Recent framework for characterizing
natural SESs ; core- and second-level
variables [1]
Man-made infrastructure design problem:
Make any given natural SEES as sustainable
as possible [2]

Some New Problem Posing Challenges
Define core sub-system variables of an SEES
Define second- (and deeper)-level variables key to
answering questions of interest
Establish measures (qualitative and quantitative) of
second- and deeper-level variables
Use these to determine key factors for assessing the
likelihood of the given SEES to be sustainable and for
policy design

Core and Second-Level Variables [1]

“Smart Grid” electric power grid and
ICT for sustainable energy SES [2]
Energy SES
• Resource
system (RS)
• Generation
Man-made
Grid
• Physical
network
Man-made
ICT
• Sensors
• Communica

Linking physical design and ICT
Characteristics of second-order variables in the natural
energy SESs critically affected by the man-made
infrastructure design
The role of deeper-level variables for designing
sustainable electric energy systems [3]
Main objective of a “Smart Grid” Design--- Design the
physical power grid, ICT and governance policies to
match desired attributes of the core SES energy subsystems
If/when done right, this induces sustainable
properties of the second-level variables; no blue-print
approach

Transformational changes in the objectives of
Today’s T&D Grid
Tomorrow’s T&D Grid
Deliver supply to meet given demand
Deliver power to support supply and
demand schedules in which both supply
and demand have costs assigned
Deliver power assuming a predefined tariff Deliver electricity at QoS determined by
the customers willingness to pay
Deliver power subject to predefined CO 2
constraint
Deliver supply and demand subject to
transmission congestion
Deliver power defined by users’
willingness to pay for CO 2
Schedule supply, demand and transmission
capacity (supply, demand and transmission
costs assigned); transmission at value
Use storage to balance fast varying
supply and demand
Build new transmission lines for forecast
demand
Build storage according to customers
willingness to pay for being connected to a
stable grid
Build new transmission lines to serve
customers according to their ex ante
(longer-term) contracts for service

THE MOST DIFFICULT QUESTIONS
Establish sufficiently accurate (but not too complex)
modeling framework which captures inter-dependencies
between energy SES, physical grid, ICT and governance
system
The key objective: Match attributes of core variables in the
composite energy SES; do it by careful model-based
design of physical grid, ICT and governance system for a
specific type of energy SES

Fully regulated bulk electric energy system

Hybrid Electric Energy System

ICT design to monitor and control interaction variables

Matching Temporal Characteristics - 50% Wind Integration
15

Future electric energy systems programs
Must educate the next generation work force
Must do so in the context of, and centered in,
Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE)
Must integrate ECE with other academic disciplines
Must also address non-technical issues (policy,
economics)
Recent awareness of an educational void, and a
sense of urgency to innovate and integrate
electric energy systems education, into existing

Transformational changes in educating
Rethink how to plan, rebuild and operate an
infrastructure which has been turned upside-down
from what it used to be
Leaders must understand
3ϕ physics (the basic foundations)
Modeling of complex systems (architecturedependent
models, components and their
interactions, performance objectives)
Dependence of models on sensors and
actuators; design for desired system
performance (defined by economic policy and
engineering specifications)
Numerical methods and algorithms

Objectives for modern electric energy systems
Not only a novel education, but multi-disciplinary
coverage across ECE and beyond
Provide conceptual problem formulations
(understand how models, sensing, control and
communication are different for sample systems: 1)
old centralized infrastructure; (2) deregulated
industry; and, (3) industry with lots of distributed
sensors, controllers, intermittent generation,
demand-side.)
Introduce novel simulators/graphics/visualization
to teach these concepts.

Modern Electric Energy Systems at at Carnegie
Lots of fun; the number of graduate students is high and
growing; the number of students taking classes is high
and growing. Grass-root pressure from students.
Students genuinely interested in careers in future energy
systems (drawn to the area to serve mankind while still
doing engineering)
Emphasis on systems formulation (instead of on
component physics); smart grid as an enabler.
Much novel modeling for “translating” a physical and
business system and its objectives into the language of
systems, control, sensors, signal processing, computer
science and IT; power electronics-enabled control.
Team-teaching with business and public policy faculty.
Energy Master’s Program across Engineering, Science
and Technology http://neon.materials.cmu.edu/
energy/
A GREAT ECE DEPARTMENT HEAD MAKES ALL THE

Electric Energy Systems Group (EESG) http://
www.eesg.ece.cmu.edu
A multi-disciplinary group of researchers from
across Carnegie Mellon with common interest
in electric energy.
Truly integrated education and research
Interests range across technical, policy,
sensing, communications, computing and
much more; emphasis on systems aspects of
the changing industry, model-based
simulations and decision making/control for
predictable performance.
Home of the new SRC Smart Grid Research
Center
http://www.ece.cmu.edu/news/story/2010/07/
carnegie_mellon_to/

DYMONDS-enabled Physical Grid [4]

A sample of subjects currently offered in
18-418 Electric Energy Processing: Fundamentals and
Applications
18-875/19-633/45-855/45-856 Engineering and
Economics Problems in Future Electric Energy Systems
18-618 Smart Grids and Future Electric Energy Systems
18-777 Large-scale Dynamic Systems
Courses taught with an eye on regulatory, technological
changes, and the implications of these on problem
posing and possible solutions.
Courses emphasize commonalities across different
electric energy systems (power systems-power
distribution to homes; shipboards, aircrafts and cars.
In house software development to support the
curriculum – (Graphical) Interactive Power Systems
Simulator ((G)IPSYS).
Many courses outside ECE

Closing Remarks
There exists now a highly unusual window of
opportunity to introduce modern electric energy
research and education programs
Obvious societal needs
CMU is a great environment
Boundaries across disciplines fluid
Very strong disciplines needed for developing embedded
intelligence (CS, security, sensor networks, signal
processing)
We will waste this rare opportunity without a full
understanding of the potential of embedding ITenabled
intelligence within complex physical energy
systems

References
[1] Elinor Ostrom, et al, A General Framework for
Analyzing Sustainability of social-Ecological Systems,
Science 325, 419 (2009).
[2] Ilic, M, et al, A Decision Making Framework and
Simulator for Sustainable Electric Energy Systems, The
IEEE Trans. On Sustainable Energy, TSTE-00011-2010
(January 2011).
[3] Ilic, M., dynamic Monitoring and Decision Systems
for Sustainable Services, Proc. of IEEE, January 2011.
[4] ERi SRC Smart Grid Research Center at Carnegie
Mellon University,
http://www.ece.cmu.edu/news/story/2010/07/
carnegie_mellon_to/