Keynote Speaker I

Prof. Marco Liserre
Fellow IEEE
Kiel University, Germany
Title: The
Smart Transformer providing service to the
electric network and addressing the reliability
challenges through power routing
Abstract: The increasing
penetration of renewable energy systems and
charging stations is challenging the
distribution grids. The Smart Transformer is a
power electronics-based transformer with control
and communication functionalities, which can
avoid or defer the costly network reinforcement
required in both the LV and MV grids. The Smart
Transformer allows hybrid and meshed network
operation also with variable voltage profile,
being able to integrate more effectively storage
and offer service to the MV and HV grids (like
frequency support). Laboratory experiments
through Hardware in the Loop (HIL) and Power HIL
with a special grid emulator and a downscaled ST
prototype developed at the Chair of Power
Electronics of Kiel University will provide
insights in the ST operation. The Smart
Transformer must be realized with a modular
structure to provide scalability and higher
availability through fault tolerance and
reconfigurability to the secondary substations.
The design and control of a complex modular
structure could result in efficiency and
reliability challenges because of the higher
number of components respect to a non-modular
one. Power routing allows to exploit the
modularity to transform this possible weakness
in a point of strength. The basic principle of
power routing is loading more those subsystems
with longer remaining useful lifetime and
loading less those which are nearer to their
wear-out, also for better scheduling and even
delaying maintenance. Several innovative
modulation and control techniques allow the
implementation of power routing and graph theory
allows a holistic modelling of the Smart
Transformer to take efficiency and reliability
into consideration in the control. These
features are proven showing results of many
prototypes also built using SiC devices. The
keynote summarizes the main achievement of
several excellence and strategic projects, like
the EU ERC Consolidator Grant "HEART" or the
German governmental Copernicus Initiative
"ENSURE", which did result in 125 publications
(50 journal ones), 8 IEEE Awards, several
industrial cooperation like the LV-Engine
project led by Scottish Power, which will test
the Smart Transformer in the electrical grid.
Bio:
Marco Liserre (S'00-M'02-SM'07-F´13) received the MSc and PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from the Bari Technical University, respectively in 1998 and 2002. He has been Associate Professor at Bari Technical University and from 2012 Professor in reliable power electronics at Aalborg University (Denmark). From 2013 he is Full Professor and he holds the Chair of Power Electronics at Kiel University (Germany). He got offered and declined professorships at the Technical Universities of Ilmenau, Munich and Hamburg. He has published 600 technical papers (1/3 of them in international peer-reviewed journals) and a book. These works have received more than 42000 citations. Marco Liserre is listed in ISI Thomson report “The world’s most influential scientific minds” from 2014.
He is member of IAS, PELS, PES and IES. He has been serving all these societies in different capacities. In PELS he is AdCom member (second mandate), Co-Editor of the IEEE Open Access Journal in Power Electronics, Associate Editor of TPEL and JESTPE, Guest Editor of Several Special Issues of JESTPE, Technical Committee Chairman of the new Committee on Electronic Power Grid Systems and Member of the IEEE Digital Committee, IES-Liaison responsible, eGrid 2021 Workshop Co-chairman. He has received the IES 2009 Early Career Award, the IES 2011 Anthony J. Hornfeck Service Award, the 2014 Dr. Bimal Bose Energy Systems Award, the 2017 IEEE PELS Sustainable Energy Systems Technical Achievement Award, the 2018 IEEE-IES Mittelmann Achievement Award and 6 IEEE Journal Awards.
Keynote Speaker II

Prof. Chris Mi
Fellow IEEE & SAE
San Diego State University, USA
Title: Cost-Effective Integration of Second-Life EV Batteries with Solar PV Systems for Commercial Buildings
Abstract: As a low cost and
mature clean energy source, solar PV generation
currently has a high penetration rate especially
in sunshine-rich states like California. Battery
energy storage systems (BESSs) are frequently
incorporated with PV systems as a standard
approach to buffer the volatile nature of the PV
output. Household small PV and storage systems
are popular products in the market. For
commercial buildings, similar technology is also
available, but normally featuring large
centralized battery stacks and consequently high
cost.
Electric vehicles (EVs) started to enjoy a
booming market share since the last decade. The
number of EVs on roads is enormous and keeps
growing rapidly, and so is the quantity of EV
batteries. It is estimated that the first huge
wave of EV battery retirement in California will
hit in 2025, and retired batteries will keep
coming thereafter. EV batteries today, almost
exclusively lithium-ion based, cost heavily in
both production and recycling. Economically
dealing with retired EV batteries is an
important topic.
Retired EV batteries, though no longer
roadworthy, still have considerable capacity for
stationary applications where the requirement
for energy and power density is not as
stringent. As an abundant byproduct from the
road, these second-life EV batteries cost much
less than new products. Meanwhile, the high cost
of (new) batteries in storage systems could be a
major discouragement for potential clients,
especially small/medium owners. Thus, developing
proper technologies to bridge the supply and
demand has great significance.
The aim of this research is to validate that
using second-life EV batteries in BESS for PV
and storage system for small/medium sized
commercial buildings will reduce the overall
cost over serviceable life compared to using new
batteries. To achieve this, we are conducting
thorough multi-scale analysis and modeling of
the second-life EV battery aging process and
building degradation models, accordingly
developing optimized energy management strategy
considering PV and load profiles, and building
customized electrical and control systems for
site pilot testing.
Downscaled lab test bench for electrical and
control system and battery cycling lab test
system are established in San Diego State
University (SDSU), and tests are being
conducted. Two pilot testing sites, both with
existing solar PV systems but different
penetration rate, have been selected and the
respective BESSs designing processes are
ongoing. Through pilot testing, we aim to
achieve overall cost reduction and no less than
35% reduction in initial installation cost, and
also to establish the supply chain for similar
projects in the future.
Bio:
Chris Mi is a
fellow of IEEE and SAE, Professor and Chair of
the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, and the Director of the US
DOE-funded GATE Center for Electric Drive
Transportation at San Diego State University,
San Diego, California, USA. He was previously a
professor at the University of Michigan,
Dearborn from 2001 to 2015. He received the B.S.
and M.S. degrees from Northwestern Polytechnical
University, Xi’an, China, and the Ph.D. degree
from the University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada,
all in electrical engineering. Previously he was
an Electrical Engineer with General Electric
Canada Inc. He was the President and the Chief
Technical Officer of 1Power Solutions, Inc. from
2008 to 2011.
His research interests are in electric and
hybrid vehicles. He has taught tutorials and
seminars on the subject of HEVs/PHEVs for the
Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), the IEEE,
workshops sponsored by the National Science
Foundation (NSF), and the National Society of
Professional Engineers. He has delivered courses
to major automotive OEMs and suppliers,
including GM, Ford, Chrysler, Honda, Hyundai,
Tyco Electronics, A&D Technology, Johnson
Controls, Quantum Technology, Delphi, and the
European Ph.D School. He has offered tutorials
in many countries, including the U.S., China,
Korea, Singapore, Italy, France, and Mexico. He
has published more than 300 articles and
delivered more than 100 invited talks and
keynote speeches and as a panelist in major IEEE
and SAE conferences.
Dr. Mi is the recipient of the “Distinguished
Teaching Award” and “Distinguished Research
Award” of the University of Michigan Dearborn.
He is a recipient of the 2007 IEEE Region 4
“Outstanding Engineer Award,” “IEEE Southeastern
Michigan Section Outstanding Professional
Award.” and the “SAE Environmental Excellence in
Transportation (E2T) Award.” He was also a
recipient of the National Innovation Award and
the Government Special Allowance Award from the
China Central Government. He received three Best
Paper Awards from IEEE Transactions on Power
Electronics and two Power Electronics Prize
Letter Awards. In 2019, he received the IEEE
Power Electronics Emerging Technology Award.
Dr. Mi was the Chair (2008-2009) and Vice-Chair
(2006-2007) of the IEEE Southeastern Michigan
Section. Dr. Mi was the General Chair of the 5th
IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference
held in Dearborn, Michigan, USA on September
6-11, 2009. Dr. Mi was the Area Editor of IEEE
Transactions on Vehicular Technology, associate
editor of IEEE Transactions on Power
Electronics, Associate Editor of IEEE
Transactions on Industry Applications. He served
on the review panel for the NSF, the U.S.
Department of Energy (2007–2010), the Natural
Sciences and Engineering Research Council of
Canada (2010), Hong Kong Research Grants
Council, French Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique, Agency for Innovation by Science
and Technology in Flanders (Belgium), and the
Danish Research Council. He is the topic chair
for the 2011 IEEE International Future Energy
Challenge and the General Chair for the 2013
IEEE International Future Energy Challenge. Dr.
Chris Mi is a Distinguished Lecturer (DL) of the
IEEE Vehicular Technology Society.
He is Guest Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Journal of
Emerging and Selected Topics in Power
Electronics – Special Issue on WPT, Guest
Co-Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Power
Electronics Special Issue on WPT, Guest Editor
of IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics –
Special Issue on dynamic wireless power
transfer, and steering committee member of the
IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference
(ITEC- Asian). He is Program Chair or General
Chair of a number of international conferences,
including Workshop on Wireless Power Transfer (WoW),
IEEE International Electric Vehicle Conference
(IEVC), and IEEE International Transportation
Electrification Conference – Asia-Pacific. He is
also the chair of the IEEE Future Direction’s
Transportation Electrification Initiative (TEI)
e-Learning Committee and developed an e-learning
module on wireless power transfer.
Keynote Speaker III

Prof.
Claudio Cañizares
IEEE Fellow
University of Waterloo, Canada
Title: Energy Storage Systems
Abstract: As the penetration of
variable renewable generation increases in power
systems, issues such as grid stiffness, larger
frequency deviations, and grid stability are
becoming more relevant. In this context, Energy
Storage Systems (ESSs) are proving to be
effective in facilitating the integration of
renewable resources, and thus are being widely
deployed in both microgrids and large power
grids. This talk will review several energy
storage technologies, particularly Compress Air
Energy Storage (CAES), flywheels, batteries, and
thermal energy systems, and their modeling and
applications for power systems. An overview will
be provided of the work being carried out by
Prof. Canizares’ group at the University of
Waterloo on all these energy storage systems,
focusing on novel models and applications in
microgrids and distribution and transmission
grids for system stability and control, in
particular for frequency regulation.
Bio:
Claudio Cañizares is a University
Professor and the Hydro One Endowed Chair at the
Electrical and Computer Engineering (E&CE)
Department, and the Executive Director of the
Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy (WISE)
at the University of Waterloo, where he has held
various academic and administrative positions
since 1993 and received the 2021-2022 Awards of
Excellence in Graduate Supervision at both the
University and Faculty of Engineering levels. He
obtained the Electrical Engineer degree from the
Escuela Politécnica Nacional (EPN) in
Quito-Ecuador in 1984, where he held different
academic and administrative positions between
1983 and 1993, and his MSc (1988) and PhD (1991)
degrees in Electrical Engineering are from the
University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research
activities focus on the study of stability,
control, optimization, modeling, simulation, and
computational issues in bulk power systems,
microgrids, and energy systems in the context of
competitive energy markets and smart grids. In
these areas, he has led or been an integral part
of many grants and contracts from government
agencies and private companies worth millions of
dollars, and has collaborated with multiple
industry and university researchers in Canada
and abroad, supervising/co-supervising over 170
research fellows and graduate students. He has
authored/co-authored more than 350 publications
with over 24,000 citations and a 70+ H-index,
including journal and conference papers,
technical reports, book chapters, disclosures
and patents, and has been invited to deliver
keynote speeches, seminars, tutorials, and
presentations at many institutions and
conferences worldwide. He is the Editor-In-Chief
of the Institute of Electrical & Electronic
Engineering (IEEE) Transactions on Smart Grid,
the 2022-2023 IEEE Division VII Director of the
IEEE and Power & Energy Society (PES) Boards,
and a Fellow of the IEEE, a Fellow of the Royal
Society of Canada, where he was the Director of
the Applied Science and Engineering Division of
the Academy of Science from 2017 to 2020, and a
Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.
He is also the recipient of the 2017 IEEE PES
Outstanding Power Engineering Educator Award,
the 2016 IEEE Canada Electric Power Medal, and
of multiple IEEE PES Technical Council and
Committee awards and recognitions, holding
leadership positions in several IEEE-PES
Committees, Working Groups, and Task Forces.
Keynote Speaker IV

Prof.
Fushuan Wen
IEEE Fellow
Zhejiang University, China
Title: Demand Responses and Management in Power and Integrated Energy Systems
Abstract: The following issues
will be addressed in this speech:
1. Brief introduction to demand responses and
integrated demand responses
2. Optimal planning of energy hubs with demand
side management in an integrated electricity-gas
energy system
3. Economic operation of industrial microgrids
with multiple kinds of flexible loads
4. Optimal operation of commercial buildings
with generalized demand side management
5. A demand side response strategy for large
industrial customers considering the uncertainty
of renewable energy generation
6. Research problems to be addressed
Bio:
F Fushuan Wen has been a full professor in
Zhejiang University, China since 1997. He is
listed in "Most Cited Chinese Researchers" in
six consecutive years from 2015 to 2020 by
Elsevier. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Energy
Conversion and Economics, the deputy
Editor-in-Chief of Automation of Electric Power
Systems, and serves as the editor, subject
editor and associate editor of several
international journals. He has been undertaking
various teaching, research and visiting
appointments in National University of
Singapore, Hong Kong Polytechnic University,
University of Hong Kong, South China University
of Technology, University of New South Wales in
Australia, Queensland University of Technology
in Australia, Brunei University of Technology,
Technical University of Denmark, Nanyang
Technological University in Singapore, Murdoch
University in Australia, Tallinn University of
Technology, Hangzhou Dianzi University,
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
Organization (CSIRO) in Australia, Shenzhen
Institute of Artificial Intelligence and
Robotics for Society. His research interests
include power industry restructuring, power
system alarm processing, fault diagnosis and
restoration strategies, smart grids and electric
vehicles, as well as artificial intelligence
applications in power and integrated energy
systems. He is a Fellow of IEEE.
Invite Speaker I

Prof. Farhad Shania
Murdoch University, Australia
Talk Title: “Recent and Future Research on Microgrid Clusters”
Abstract: Electricity systems around the world are experiencing a radical transition as the consequence of replacing fossil fuels, used for electricity production, by sustainable and cleaner energies. The growing penetration of renewable energies requires smarter techniques capable of handling the uncertainties of these intermittent sources. Along with this change, traditionally centralised power systems are also converting into distributed self-sufficient systems, often referred to as microgrids, that can operate independently. This talk will focus on remote area microgrids as a hot research topic in Australia and Southeast Asia that have hundreds of remote and off-grid towns and communities, and islands. It is expected that remote area microgrids will strongly benefit these remote locations in the forthcoming years. This talk will briefly introduce the progress of research in this field around the world and Australia, and will also discuss some of the technical challenges associated with interconnection of neighbouring microgrids as a key step to improve their survivability in the course of unexpected imbalances between the demand and the available generation from intermittent renewable resources.
Bio:
Farhad Shahnia received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, in 2012. He is currently an A/Professor at Murdoch University. Before that, he was a Lecturer at Curtin University (2012-15), a research scholar at QUT (2008-11), and an R&D engineer at the Eastern Azarbayjan Electric Power Distribution Company, Iran (2005-08). He is currently a Fellow member of Engineers Australia, Senior Member of IEEE, and member of the Australasian Association for Engineering Education.
Farhad’s research falls under Distribution networks, Microgrid and Smart grid concepts. He has authored one book and 11 book chapters and 200+ peer-reviewed scholarly articles in international conferences and journals, as well as being an editor of 6 books.
Farhad has won 5 Best Paper Awards in various conferences and has also received the IET Premium Award for the Best Paper published in the IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution journal in 2015. One of his articles was listed under the top-25 most cited articles in the Electric Power System Research Journal in 2015 while one of his 2015 journal articles has been listed under the top-5 most read articles of the Australian Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. He was the recipient of the Postgraduate Research Supervisor Award from Curtin University in 2015 and the Australia-China Young Scientist Exchange Award from the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering in 2016.
Farhad is currently a Subject Editor, Deputy Subject Editor, and Associate Editor of several journals including IEEE Access, IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution, IET Renewable Power Generation, IET Smart Grid, IET Energy Conversion and Economics, and International Transaction on Electrical Energy Systems and has served 35+ conferences in various roles such as General, Technical, Publication, Publicity, Award, Sponsorship, and Special Session Chairs.
Farhad has led the IEEE Western Australia Section as the 2020-2021 Chair, and was the 2019 Founding Chair of the IEEE Western Australia Industrial Electronics Society (IES) Chapter. He is currently the 2021-2022 Secretary of the IES’s Technical Committees on Smart Grids.
Email: F.Shahnia@Murdoch.edu.au
Invite Speaker II

Assist. Prof. Xiaokang Liu
Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Title: Advanced open-loop phasor detection technologies for enabling high-performance grid-tied VSC control
Abstract: Fast and effective
detection of grid phasor (amplitude/phase) is an
indispensable condition to enhance the inverter
control performance. However, traditional
closed-loop solutions usually require a long
response time to achieve accurate phase
synchronization, especially under non-ideal grid
conditions. To address this problem, open-loop
phase locking schemes based on the synchronous
reference frame have been developed in recent
years. These schemes are characterized by
remarkable response speed, high accuracy, and
easy implementation, as well as the ability to
suppress multiple types of disturbances. This
talk will focus on the open-loop phasor
detection technologies, and introduce the basic
principles and latest advances in the relevant
research.
Bio:
Xiaokang Liu received the Double M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering from Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China, and Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy, in 2016, and the Ph.D. degree (summa cum laude) in electrical engineering from Politecnico di Milano, in 2021.
He is currently an Assistant Professor with the Department of Electronics, Information, and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano. His research interests are in the field of Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC), and include the modeling of distributed-parameter circuits, field-to-wire coupling and crosstalk in multi-wire structures, and experimental procedures and setups for EMC testing. He is also interested in the field of power electronics, including renewable energy, power quality, stability analysis, etc.
Dr. Liu is a recipient of the 2021 Richard B. Schulz Best EMC Transactions Paper Award, and the 2021 International Union of Radio Science (URSI) Young Scientist Award. He has served as the Guest Editor for the Chinese Journal of Electrical Engineering, and Electric Engineering.
Invite Speaker III

Assoc.
Prof. Sayed Abulanwar
Mansoura University, Egypt
Title:
Hybrid AC/DC Microgrids operation and control
Abstract: Microgrids (MGs)
powered by hybrid renewable energy resources
such as wind turbine generators and photovoltaic
arrays are recently attracting extensive
attention to reduce carbon footprint, diversify
energy supply and resuscitate local economies
particularly in developing countries. Hybrid
AC/DC MGs combine pros of both AC and DC
subgrids and reduce conversion stages thus
increasing operation efficacy. Consequently,
hybrid MGs are promising recourse for either
sub-optimal underprivileged remote communities
or even developed load centers that are
segregated from main utilities to supply their
electricity needs. Besides, steady population
growth and ever-increasing load demand prompted
proactive policies to secure sustainable and
reliable power supply via hybrid AC/DC
autonomous MGs whenever grid connection is
unavailable or uneconomic. Though, MGs are prone
to remarkable voltage and/or frequency
deviations owing to climatic vagaries, e.g.,
solar radiation and wind speed changes; longterm
supplementary energy storage systems can
efficaciously suppress renewble resources
irregularities so that standalone MGs perform as
conventional power plants. To tackle rapid power
variations and concurrently ensure MG autonomy,
hybrid energy storage systems characterized not
only by high power density (e.g.,
supercapacitors SCs) but also high energy
density (e.g., hydrogen management scheme HMS)
are indispensable. HMS normally includes an
electrolyzer that converts surplus power to
hydrogen in a storage tank to be later used by
fuel cells (FCs) to provide necessary aid during
MG insufficiency. Recently, hydrogen gas has
emerged as a favorable energy carrier for
long-term electrical energy storage. Despite,
HMS conversion efficiency is not as efficient as
other storage devices such as lithium-ion
batteries, hydrogen storage tanks are featured
by relatively lower cost of construction and
maintenance, easier expansion and lower
self-discharge rates, thus are preferable for MG
applications.
Bio: Sayed
Abulanwar (MIEEE) received the B.S. and M.S.
degrees in Electrical Engineering, Mansoura
University, Egypt, in 2005 and 2010,
respectively, and the Ph.D. degree from Energy
Technology Department, Aalborg University,
Denmark, in 2016. He is currently an associate
professor, Faculty of Engineering, Mansoura
University, Egypt. He is a Guest Editor, IET
Renewable Power Generation. His research
includes hybrid AC/DC Microgrids, wind energy
conversion systems, HVDC systems, transients in
power systems and grid-connected converters.
Speakers in 2023 to be
announced soon......