Overview:

This is an exciting 4-year PhD studentship, funded by EPSRC and Shell via the Industrial CASE (I-CASE) funding scheme. The project aims to address the critical challenges emerging globally in reliably protecting renewable energy systems and their connected power networks due to the rapid increase of power electronics converters. The PhD project involves close collaboration between the University of Strathclyde and Shell, and the candidate will have extensive opportunities to take trainings, internships and international conferences. The candidate will also develop strong capability in lab-based testing of protection and control solutions using state-of-the-art facilities in the Dynamic Power Systems Lab at the University of Strathclyde.  

Project details:

Large-scale renewable power generation (RPG), e.g. offshore windfarms, plays a critical role in realising the global energy decarbonisation targets. The grid-forming (GFM) control is a promising technology for RPG due to its capability in providing valuable functionalities, e.g. voltage and frequency support, black start, etc. However, converters generally have limited overcurrent capability and the dynamic behaviour and fault characteristics of GFM controlled converters are different from synchronous generation and the grid-following (GFL) converters, which are dominantly used for RPG at present. These can present major impact and challenges on protection systems for RPG and its interfacing grid. Therefore, the protection and control systems in GFM RPG need to be specifically designed to ensure the system security during faults. This PhD aims to address this gap by holistically investigating and developing effective protection solutions and control strategies of GFM RPG and the interfacing power networks, thus ensuring system security under different operating and fault scenarios.

Research and Innovation Environment:

University of Strathclyde (UoS) hosts one of Europe’s leading and largest power and energy research groups with strong industry engagement. The EEE EPSRC portfolio exceeds £44M. There is a microgrid lab with power hardware-in-the-loop and real-time simulation capabilities, and the PNDC (with extensive industry membership), incorporating actual 11kV and LV networks, ability to disturb networks to assess performance and consequences, plus associated measurement and communications for accelerated testing of future energy technologies. Active and prior relevant research projects include: EPSRC projects (ACCEPT, CDTs, RESCUE, Top & Tail), EU/Horizon 2020 (ELECTRA IRP, ERIGrid), FutureGrid II, “Smart Grid II” ENG52), and large industry-led consortium projects (e.g. Ofgem-funded EFCC, Phoenix, FITNESS).