Plenary Lecture: A Technology Roadmap to Achieve Climate Resilience

Abstract: This lecture explains what carbonization is, addresses its causes and impacts. It then offers technological solutions to reduce CO2 emissions from the electric power sector which is responsible over 30% of global Carbon emissions. In order to address the reduction of carbon emissions from the electric power sector, a collaborative approach between the industrialized nation states and emerging economies is necessary. This will involve a portfolio of solutions with low-carbon generation from wind, solar, hydro and nuclear, storage, cross-border power transfer and advanced technology focusing on energy efficiency. This talk also discusses the IEEE Climate Change program and related activities.

Biography: Professor Saifur Rahman is the founding director of the Advanced Research Institute at Virginia Tech, USA where he is the Joseph R. Loring professor of electrical and computer engineering. He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE and an IEEE Millennium Medal winner. He was the 2023 IEEE President & CEO. He was the President of the IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) for 2018 and 2019. He is the founding editor-in-chief of the IEEE Electrification Magazine and the IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy. He has published over 160 journal papers and has made over seven hundred conference and invited presentations. He is a distinguished lecturer for the IEEE Power & Energy Society and has lectured on renewable energy, energy efficiency, smart grid, energy internet, blockchain, IoT sensor integration, etc. in over 30 countries. He served as the chair of the US National Science Foundation Advisory Committee for International Science and Engineering from 2010 to 2013. He has led several research projects for Duke Energy, Tokyo Electric Power Company, the US National Science Foundation, the US Department of Defense, the US Department of Energy and the State of Virginia. He has a PhD in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech. (Read More)

Plenary Lecture: Grid Digitalization and Sustainable Electricity

Abstract:Grid digitalization refers to the integration of ICT and data analytic technologies into the power grid to enhance its efficiency, reliability, security, electricity affordability and sustainability while enabling new services, skills, and customer empowerment. However, it poses significant challenges, such as data privacy, cybersecurity, interoperability, regulation, governance, and social acceptance.
     Sustainable electricity sources like solar, wind, hydropower, and geothermal energy help decrease greenhouse gas emissions, mitigating climate change and reducing air pollution. Cleaner energy sources lead to better air quality, which can reduce health problems and create a better liveable environment. They can meet our current energy needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.
     Since the Paris Agreement of Climate Change has become a global attention, countries have deployed more renewable energy to meet their carbon emission targets. The penetration of renewable energy causes voltage and frequency instability. To enable more penetration of renewable energy into the grid while maintaining grid stability, a balancing mechanism via energy storage needs to be in place.
     Meanwhile, the liberalization of the electricity supply industry benefits both large business and small household consumers. Consumers are given more choices through competitive pricing and innovative offers. Environmentally conscious consumers can now opt for plans with solar/wind power.
      A rapid growth in deployment of renewable-based distribution generators in residential buildings converts residential consumers into prosumers. The surplus energy of prosumers can be shared with their neighbors and/or sold to the upstream grid. Conversely, energy shortage can be bought from the neighbors and/or upstream grid. Smart energy management services and decision support tools are needed to enable the prosumers to make sound transaction decisions while negotiating with other actors/peers in the distribution energy market. The same platform can facilitate EV charging and participation of demand response management.

Biography: Hoay Beng GOOI received his PhD degree from The Ohio State University, Columbus. He was Assistant Professor with Lafayette College, Easton and Senior Engineer/Team Leader with EMPROS (now Siemens), Minneapolis, where he was responsible for the design, testing and coordination of domestic and international energy management system projects. In 1991, he joined School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore as Senior Lecturer and later promoted to Associate Professor. He was Deputy Head of Power Engineering Division, EEE, NTU, Chairman of Fundamentals of Engineering Examination (Electrical) Sub-Committee for Professional Engineers Board Singapore, and Co-Director, Singapore Power (SP) Group-NTU Joint Lab. He served in EE Standards Committee of Singapore Standards Council and was Editor of IEEE Transactions on Power Systems and Editor of IEEE Power Engineering Letters. In 2021, he won Outstanding Associate Editor Award, IEEE Transactions on Power Systems. He taught Energy Management System courses for Power System Control Centre in Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia. His project team won the award from the 2023 Carbon Emission Reduction contest organized by OPAL-RT, https://www.opal-rt.com/co2-reduction-rt23/.
     He is a Life Fellow of IEEE, a registered professional engineer in Pennsylvania, USA and Singapore, a member of Energy Technical Committee, Institution of Engineers Singapore, and an IEEE IES Distinguished Lecturer. He serves in Editorial Board of IEEE Access. He is a faculty member of School of EEE, NTU and an independent microgrid consultant in Singapore. His current research interests include energy transition, renewable energy resources, peer-to-peer energy trading, and digitalizing energy.

Plenary Lecture: TBA

Abstract:TBA

Biography: Mo-Yuen Chow earned his degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (B.S., 1982); and Cornell University (M. Eng., 1983; Ph.D., 1987). Upon completion of his Ph.D. degree, Dr. Chow joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at North Carolina State University as an Assistant Professor. He became an Associate Professor in 1993, and a Professor since 1999. He worked in U.S. Army, TACOM TARDEC Division as a Senior Research Scientist during the summer of 2003. He spent his sabbatical leave as a Visiting Scientist in 1995 in ABB Automated Distribution Division, and as a Distinguished Consultant, SAS Institute, Fall 2016.
     Dr. Mo-Yuen Chow is the founder and the director of the Advanced Diagnosis, Automation and Control Laboratory at North Carolina State University. His recent research focuses on collaborative distributed control and fault management with applications on smart grids, PHEVs, batteries, and mechatronics/robotics systems. He has served as a Principal Investigator in projects supported by various federal agencies and private companies. He has published one book, seven book chapters, and over three hundred journal and conference articles. Dr. Chow is an IEEE Fellow, the co-Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics 2014-2018, was the Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics 2010-2012, a co-Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, a past Technical Editor of IEEE Transactions on Mechatronics, a past Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics and IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics. He was the Vice President for Publication of IEEE Industrial Electronics Society in 2006-2007, and the Vice President for Membership of IEEE Industrial Electronics Society in 2000-2001. He was the General Chair of IEEE-IECON05, the General Co-Chair of IEEE-IECON10, IEEE-ISIE12, IECON18, ISIE19. Dr. Chow served as a guest editor for the IEEE Transactions on Mechatronics Focus Section on Mechatronics in Multi Robot Systems (2009), IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics special sections on Distributed Network-Based Control Systems and Applications (2003), on Motor Fault Detection and Diagnosis (2000), and on Application of Intelligent Systems to Industrial Electronics (1993). He was a Senior Fellow of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science in 2003. He has received the IEEE Eastern North Carolina Section Outstanding Engineering Educator Award in 2004, the IEEE Region-3 Joseph M. Biedenbach Outstanding Engineering Educator Award in 2005, the IEEE Eastern North Carolina Section Outstanding Service Award in 2007, the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society Anthony J Hornfeck Service Award in 2013. Dr. Chow received the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society Dr.-Ing. Eugene Mittelmann Achievement Award in 2020. He is a Distinguished Lecturer of IEEE IES.

Plenary Lecture: Autonomous Machine Learning for Decision Support in Complex Environments

Abstract:The talk will present how machine learning can innovatively and effectively learn from data to support data-driven decision-making in uncertain and dynamic situations. A set of new autonomous transfer learning theories, methodologies and algorithms will be presented that can transfer knowledge learnt in more source domains to a target domain by building latent space, mapping functions and self-training to overcome tremendous uncertainties in data, learning processes and decision outputs. Another set of autonomous concept drift theories, methodologies and algorithms will be discussed about how to handle ever-changing dynamic data stream environments with unpredictable stream pattern drifts by effectively and accurately detecting concept drift in an explanatory way, indicating when, where and how concept drift occurs and reacting accordingly. These new developments enable advanced machine learning and therefore enhance data-driven prediction and decision support systems in uncertain and dynamic real-world environments.

Biography: Distinguished Professor Jie Lu is a world-renowned scientist in the field of computational intelligence, primarily known for her work in fuzzy transfer learning, concept drift, recommender systems, and decision support systems. She is an IEEE Fellow, IFSA Fellow, Australian Computer Society Fellow, and Australian Laureate Fellow. Professor Lu is the Director of the Australian Artificial Intelligence Institute (AAII) at University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia. She has published six research books and over 500 papers in leading journals and conferences; won 10 Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Projects and over 20 industry projects as leading chief investigator; and has supervised 50 PhD students to completion. Prof Lu serves as Editor-In-Chief for Knowledge-Based Systems and International Journal of Computational Intelligence Systems. She is a recognized keynote speaker, delivering over 40 keynote speeches at international conferences. She is the recipient of two IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems Outstanding Paper Awards (2019 and 2022), NeurIPS Outstanding Paper Award (2022), Australasian Artificial Intelligence Distinguished Research Contribution Award (2022), Australian NSW Premier's Prize on Excellence in Engineering or Information & Communication Technology (2023) and the Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the Australia Day 2023. (More)

Keynote Lecture: Building Resilient Power Distribution System: Challenges & Research Opportunities

Abstract: In recent years, extreme weather phenomena like windstorms, floods, and earthquakes have emerged as significant global threats. These events not only pose risks to human life but also wreak havoc on critical infrastructures such as electricity, water, gas supply, healthcare, communication, and transportation systems. Among these vital infrastructures, the electricity supply system, commonly referred to as the power system, stands out as the crucial. Its failure can cascade into disruptions across all other sectors, potentially leading to dire consequences. Recognizing the pivotal role of the electricity supply system, researchers have mobilized remarkable efforts toward enhancing its resilience. The overarching goal is to fortify the system against abrupt changes and expedite recovery following catastrophic events, thus ensuring maximum continuity of electricity supply. Within the realm of power systems, the distribution network holds particular promise for resilience enhancement. This discussion will delve into the concept of power system resilience, exploring research avenues to bolster the resilience of distribution networks. An overview of prevailing climatic conditions that precipitate catastrophic events will be provided, elucidating the pressing need for a resilient power system. Furthermore, potential research areas and examples of research to improve the resiliency of distribution system will be presented.

Biography: Hazlie Mokhlis obtained the Bachelor of Engineering degree and Master of Engineering Science in Electrical Engineering from University of Malaya in 1999 and 2003 respectively. In 2009, he received his PhD degree from the University of Manchester. Currently he is Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Malaya. He is active researcher that has published more than 300 publications in Power and Energy Systems and supervised to completion 40 PhD, and more than 60 Master students. His outstanding research had been recognized in top 2% scientists by Stanford University in 2020 to 2024. He was awarded Top Research Scientist Malaysia by Academic Science Malaysia in 2021 and appointed as Fellow of Academic Science Malaysia in 2024. Besides research, he is active in the development of few Malaysian Standard related to power systems. His research interests focus on improving distribution system performance and resiliency against extreme weather. Prof Hazlie is a Chartered Engineer United Kingdom, Professional Engineer with the Board of Engineers Malaysia, Fellow IET, and Senior member of IEEE. He was Chapter chair for IEEE PES Malaysia session 2020-2022.

Keynote Lecture: TBA

Abstract: TBA

Biography: Jiang Tao, Doctor, Professor, Doctoral/Master Supervisor, Deputy Dean of the School of Electrical Engineering of Northeast Electric Power University, Winner of the National Youth Talent Plan, Youth Top of the "Changbai Mountain Talent Project" in Jilin Province, Young and middle-aged professional and technical talents with outstanding contributions in Jilin Province, outstanding young scientific and technological talents of China Electric Power, Winners of the "Innovative Plan" and "Dongdian Scholars" of Northeast Electric Power University, Jilin May Day model worker, Jilin Model Knowledge Workers, Jilin Outstanding Youth, and visiting scholars of North Carolina State University, the University of Tennessee in the United States, and the University of Maradaren in Sweden. Research direction: Safety and stability of power systems, integration of renewable energy, integrated energy systems, etc