Control of Power Inverters in Renewable Energy and Smart Grid Integration

Preface

It has been a long journey since the lead author had the idea of writing a research monograph on the control of power inverters, which are the common key devices used to integrate renewable energy and distributed generation into smart grids. Soon after he was appointed at Imperial College London, UK, in 2001 to work on a project on the control of power inverters, he realised that there were many challenging problems in this area and that research activities on renewable energy and grid integration would become very important worldwide in the near future. Four kinds of problem were identified at that time, that is, power quality issues, the provision of a neutral line, power flow control, and synchronisation. Over the past 10 years, he has kept working on these problems, sometimes with his collaborators and PhD students, although he has experienced several job moves. The co-author joined his team as a PhD student in 2007 and soon built up a test rig, which facilitated the research and made the idea of writing the book more concrete. The award of a Senior Research Fellowship from the Royal Academy of Engineering, UK, and the Leverhulme Trust in 2009 has considerably accelerated the process of the book project. Finally, the award of a one-year International Collaboration Sabbatical from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), UK, in 2011 has made the book a reality.

Energy and sustainability are two major problems the world faces today. Renewable energy ...