Power Electronics, A First Course, 2nd Edition

14 UTILITY APPLICATIONS OF POWER ELECTRONICS

14.1 INTRODUCTION

In previous chapters, various power electronic systems were described to use electricity efficiently and harness energy from renewable sources. In this chapter, all these applications, and new ones, are compiled in the context of utility applications. Such power electronics applications in utility systems are growing very rapidly, which promise to change the landscape of future power systems in terms of generation, operation, and control. The goal of this chapter is to briefly present an overview of these applications to prepare students for new challenges in the deregulated utility environment and to motivate them to take further courses in this field, for instance, the advanced-level graduate course designed at the University of Minnesota to discuss these topics in detail [1, 2].

In discussing these applications, we will observe that the power electronic converters are the same or modifications of those that we have already discussed in earlier chapters. Therefore, within the scope of this book, it will suffice to discuss these applications in terms of the block diagrams of various converters. These utility applications of power electronics can be categorized as follows:

• Distributed Generation (DG)

  • –Renewable resources (wind, photovoltaic, etc.)

    –Fuel cells and micro-turbines

    –Storage-batteries, super-conducting magnetic storage, flywheels

• Power Electronic Loads—Adjustable Speed Drives
• Power Quality Solutions ...