General Statement
Grid resilience and decarbonization are two national missions. However, they are contradicting with each other since integrating renewable sources reduce robustness of the grid. The asynchronous and limited-inertia characteristics of inverter-based resources (IBRs) can severely degrade dynamic performance, shrink the stability region, and reduce responsive units under emergency scenarios. My research aims to achieve synergy between grid resilience enhancement and grid decarbonization by using highly controllable and dispersed IBRs to provide resilience services in the timescale of seconds. Specifically, I am interested in:
- Performance guaranteed control for remedial actions, which utilizes the high controllability of IBRs to share the supportive power to arrest trajectory deviations.
- Intelligent online decision-making for automatic restoration, which utilizes the dispersed feature of IBRs to provide critical supports closer to the customers.
Awarded Grants
Yichen Zhang (PI), “Power Electronic-Enabled Resilience for Next-Generation Power Systems,” University of Texas System–Faculty Science and Technology Acquisition and Retention (STARs) Program, 2022–2024. Total: $250,000, allocated to Y. Zhang: $250,000.
Yichen Zhang (PI), “Data Driven Power System Dynamic Stability Analysis under Large-Scale Inverter-based Resources,” University of Texas at Arlington, Department of Electrical Engineering Startup Funding, 2022–2024. Total: $100,000, allocated to Y. Zhang: $100,000.
Yichen Zhang (PI), Linquan Bai (Co-PI), “Grid-Forming Marine Energy-Powered Multi-Energy Coastal Microgrids,” Department of Energy, Water Power Technological Office–Marine Energy Laboratory Seedling Program, 2022–2023. Total: $50,000, allocated to Y. Zhang: $25,000.
Abebaw Tadesse (PI), Yichen Zhang (Co-PI), “Power System Transient Stability Predictions Using Koopman Operator Theory and Generative Adversarial Network,” Department of Energy, Office of Science–Visiting Faculty Program, Total: $10,000.
Feng Qiu (PI), Yichen Zhang (Co-PI), Rui Yao (Co-PI), “Advanced Computational Algorithms for Power System Restoration,” Department of Energy, Office of Electricity–Advanced Grid Modeling Program, 2020–2022. Total: $1,180,000. [Link]
Seddik Djoudi (PI), Yichen Zhang (Proposal Writing Lead), “Robust Control Design for Power Electronics-Enabled Grid Architecture,” Oak Ridge National Laboratory & University of Tennessee–Joint Directed Research & Development, 2018–2021. Total: $150,000. [Link]
Mohammed Olama (PI), Yichen Zhang (Proposal Writing Lead), “Switched Mode Controls for Guaranteeing Resilient Operation of the Smart Grid,” Oak Ridge National Laboratory–Laboratory Directed Research & Development, 2018–2022. Total: $838,000. [Link]
Kevin Tomsovic (PI), Seddik Djoudi (Co-PI), Yichen Zhang (Proposal Writing Lead), “Ensuring Resilient Operation of the Future Power System with High Levels of Renewables using Switched Mode Devices,” National Science Foundation–Energy, Power, Control, and Networks (EPCN) Program, 2017–2020. Total: $358,000. [Link]
Projects
DOE OE “Advanced Computational Algorithms for Power System Restoration” (ANL, 2020-2022)
- Stochastic optimization algorithms to incorporate renewable into restoration
- Online restoration algorithms via Markov decision process, imitation learning and reinforcement learning
- Deliver open-source package IntelliHealer and EGRIP
DOE CESER “AIERCI Tool to Ensure Uninterrupted Energy Flow from Cyber Attacks Targeting Essential Forecasting
Data for Grid Operations” (ANL, 2018-2020)
- Frequency constrained unit commitment using deep active learning-based trajectory constraint encoding
- Deep active learning for solvability prediction
DOE OE “Networked Microgrids” (ORNL, 2016-2018)
- Microgrid operation with trajectory-constrained islanding capability
- Resilience-oriented microgrid operation
- Battery energy storage scheduling for load variance minimization
DOE ARPA-E “A Novel Hierarchical Frequency-Based Load Control Architecture” (ANL, 2018-2019)
- Behind-the-meter DER control in grid-connected microgrids for grid frequency regulation
- Field-test on battery energy storage units for frequency regulation using Opal-RT and Labview-based control technology at the Stone Edge Farm microgrids connected to PG&E
- Trajectory-constrained robust frequency control of islanded microgrids with DERs via numerical optimal control and robust mixed-integer linear programming
ORNL LDRD “Switched Mode Controls for Guaranteeing Resilient Operation of the Smart Grid” (ORNL, 2017-2018 )
- Quantifying synthetic inertial response and near-ideal inertia emulation schemes via model reference control
- Microgrid control with temporal logic specifications
- Experimental verification on CURENT HTB (power electronics emulated power system testbed)
NSF “Ensuring Resilient Operation of the Future Power System with High Levels of Renewables using Switched Mode Devices” (UTK, 2017-2018)
- Reachability and supervisory control of multi-mode grid-interactive converters for low-inertia grids
- Experimental verification on CURENT HTB (power electronics emulated power system testbed)
NSF “CPS: Synergy: A Cyber Physical Framework for Remedial Action Schemes in Large Power Networks” (UTK, 2013-2016)
- Set theoretic frameworks and reachability for cyber physical power system analysis
