MSc Smart Grids with the Comillas Pontifical University, Madrid & Iberdrola

The aim of this course is to develop an understanding of the principles and main methodologies behind the planning and operation of distribution networks, understand how distributed energy resources affect these activities, and comprehend what technical solutions distribution grid operators need to deploy in order to address the new challenges of the Smart Grid.

The course presents an in-depth interdisciplinary perspective of the electric power sector, with regulation as the core for networks business providing the link among the engineering, economic, legal and environmental viewpoints.

The aim of this course is to provide the student with knowledge about the main technologies and standards used for digital communications. More precisely, the course is focused on technologies that are or could be useful in present and future Smart Grids, respectively. Contents will vary from a mathematical model of the signal transmission to a higher-level view of the network architecture for Smart Grid Networks. Cybersecurity will be a recurrent topic in this course.

The objective of this course is to develop some basic understanding of the fundamental foundations on telecommunication. The course focuses not only on the transmissions systems and techniques used nowadays for transmitting information at a high level but it also elaborates on the fundamental concepts of signal modulation and propagation.

The aim of this course is to provide the student with the fundamental foundations on power systems that allow them to tackle more advanced concepts.

This course provides skills and knowledge necessary to manage staff in dynamic company structures, which are subject to changes and difficulties as part of a more complex organization. In addition to this, the course addresses situations which encompass dilemmas and implications of an ethical and professional nature, which will not only affect students in their future personal or professional life, but also have consequences that go beyond their own personal lives.

HVDC transmission systems and renewable generation units use power electronic converters rather than synchronous machines to interface to the AC network. Hence, classic control and protection methods meant for classic power systems may not be able to accommodate high penetration of renewables and long distance HVDC links.

The aim of this module is to enable students to appreciate the principles of control and protection of present-day and future electrical systems including:

• The steady-state and dynamic analysis of electrical systems under normal, transient and fault conditions.
• Grid-codes and other legislation that impacts upon the functional requirements of protection systems, generation and HVDC transmission units.
• The main concepts related to the requirements, functions, design and operation of protection schemes for power system transmission and distribution systems.
• How HVDC and converter-interfaced generation pose challenges to operation and protection system design; but also, how their enhanced controllability has great potential to enable new alternative concepts.

This module will provide you with the essential skills to design, build and test a sensor network for your smart grid application. The course makes use of radio frequency (RF) Internet of Things (IoT) development boards and a range of sensors and radio modules. You'll program the boards to communicate with the sensor nodes and wirelessly transmit data to gateway and onwards to a PC receiver or mobile wi-fi device. You'll analyse the measurement data and produce a graphical user interface to display it in a user-accessible manner.

This module covers the core principles and operation of packet-based communications networks leading to the design and operation of future 5G networks. It describes the operation of the key transport layer protocols within the internet architecture including wired and wireless networks. Specific areas include 5G Quality of Services based networks, techniques to measure and report the network performance and operation.

The course will contain topics in relation to cyber security including browser and HTTP fundamentals, security architecture and security analysis methodologies highlighting common web vulnerabilities, security management systems and policies and security governance.

This module establishes the case for a massive expansion of DC in transmission systems in order to access diversity of load and generation at a European level. Students will investigate different design strategies for new offshore networks compared to traditional networks in recognition of different risk and cost profiles.

The module also covers the fundamentals of HVDC grid, including multi-level converter topology and configuration, operation, modelling and control of multi-terminal DC grids. This will also include the approach taken to control DC networks to provide support and integration of AC networks, and how an AC network is affected by a high penetration of DC links.

A strong part of the business case for smart grids is using intelligence and automation to gain more capacity from existing assets to avoid large expenditure on further assets. Also, autonomy and intelligence is key to the flexible operation of smart girds, integration of low carbon generation and effective interaction with consumers.

This module teaches the key AI and data science methods that are applicable to smart grids, and provides case studies of their application. We are moving to a future where much more can and will be monitored and new techniques, leveraging data analytics, are needed to fully exploit the data. Areas covered will be machine learning, knowledge based methods, distributed intelligence methods and architectures, applications in asset management, applications in network management and control.

Power electronics provides one of the key technologies for delivering the flexible power networks necessary for future low carbon energy systems. This module will help to build the skills and knowledge necessary to analyse power electronic-based systems, evaluate their operation within the wider power network, and identify the key advances that will facilitate wider adoption.

In particular, the module will build understanding in the following areas.

• The operation of power electronic-based energy conversion systems
• The application of power electronics to transmission and distribution networks
• The benefits and disadvantages of power electronics in power systems

Individual research project: This will take the form of a practical, applied project with one of the University partners or as a paid internship with Iberdrola at one of their international branch offices in the UK, Spain, USA or Brazil.

Students will identify an engineering problem, critically review the existing literature relating to this, formulate a project plan with clear objectives, milestones and deliverables. They will then define and implement one or more methodologies independently, interpret the results and provide a contextual analysis of these, to make sound contributions to solve or address the problem, and make recommendations for future work.