Speaker: Marija Ilic, Professor Emerita of Electrical and Computer Engineering / Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University
Title: New Energy Space Modeling and Implications on Complexity of Decision Making and Control in Electric Energy Systems
Abstract: In this talk we present a recently-introduced multi-layered modeling framework for posing the problem of safe, robust and efficient design and control for rapidly changing electric energy systems. The proposed framework establishes dynamic relations between general physical concepts such as stored energy, useful work, and wasted energy, on one hand; and modeling, simulation, and control of interactive modular complex dynamical systems, on the other. In particular, our recently introduced energy state-space modeling approach for electric energy systems is further interpreted using fundamental laws of physics in multi-physical systems, which are modeled as dynamically interacting modules. The approach is shown to be particularly well-suited for scalable optimization and composable algorithms/computer platforms in large-scale complex systems. Instead of having to use simpler models, the proposed multi-layered modeling of system dynamics in energy space offers a promising basic method for modeling and controlling inter-dependencies across multi-physics subsystems for both ensuring feasible and near-optimal operation. It is illustrated how this approach can be used for understanding fundamental physical causes of inefficiencies created either at the component level or resulting from poor matching of their interactions. We next revisit hierarchical control in the changing electric energy industry using this modeling approach. Minimal multi-layered information exchange required for provable performance of the changing electric energy systems is derived, and it can be used as the basis for enhancing today’s SCADA and industry protocols in support of deploying new technologies at value. Electricity market design problem becomes a well-defined technology-agnostic dynamic optimization problem. As a result, many open modeling, estimation and optimization challenges and opportunities using this modeling approach can be tackled by non-experts in the power engineering field, the key to both multi-disciplinary teaching and research.
Bio: Marija Ilić has retired as an ECE Professor Emerita at Carnegie Mellon University. She is currently a Senior Staff in the Energy Systems Group 73 at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, and a Senior Research Scientist at MIT Institute for Data, Systems and Society (IDSS). She is an IEEE Life Fellow. She was the first recipient of the NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award for Power Systems signed by late President Reagan. In addition to her academic work, she is the founder of New Electricity Transmission Software Solutions, Inc. (NETSS, Inc.). She has co-authored several books on the subject of large-scale electric power systems, and has co-organized an annual multidisciplinary Electricity Industry conference series at Carnegie Mellon (http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~electriconf) with participants from academia, government, and industry. She was the founder and co-director of the Electric Energy Systems Group at Carnegie Mellon University (http://www.eesg.ece.cmu.edu), and is continuing it at M.I.T. as EESG@MIT https://lids.mit.edu/labs-and-groups/electric-energy-systems-group-eesgmit.
ECpE Seminar Host: Namrata Vaswani