NSF workshop on IBRs at MIT

October 2024

Many thanks to Prof. Anurag Srivastava, West Virginia University, and Prof. Anuradha Annaswamy, MIT, for inviting me to their NSF-supported workshop on “Enabling Cyber-Resilient Distribution Systems with Edge Inverter-Based Resources (IBR)” at MIT, Boston, on Saturday Oct. 19th.  I reviewed my work on digital twins of distribution transformers and overhead conductors and made the case for why digital twins of IBRs are becoming imminently necessary, if we wish to maintain a high level of reliability, stability and security in electrical grids with high shares of Renewable Energy.

The overall consensus of the group was that, although there are many methods, platforms and hardware to optimally and effectively control and use IBRs, there are still many open questions:

  • We are uncertain about the interactions among IBRs,
  • The standards and guidelines are not always followed by IBR owners,
  • We need robust IBR model validation,
  • The topology of distribution systems might be an additional unknown factor that affects greatly the IBR effects to the grid,
  • The industry is already faced with challenges in integrating and controlling large numbers of IBRs under critical conditions.

The workshop allowed me to reconnect with many great friends and colleagues. I was overjoyed to also meet with one of my students from my PhD time back in Greece, Dr. Elli Ntakou. Dr. Ntakou is now working at Eversource and presented their work on resilience under climate risks. It was fun to have us take a photo along with my PhD student Ioannis Vourkas, as a form of my academic circle from the 2010s to the 2020s, and from Greece to the USA.