Courses

We develop and teach courses on topics related to our areas of expertise. Below there are examples of our experiences teaching in-person and online courses. Contact us for more details.

Last update: 07/2023

In-person

Analysis of Electric Distribution Systems via OpenDSS/DSS Extensions

Topics: Analysis of Electric Distribution Systems via OpenDSS/DSS Extensions

Details: Power flow calculation in electric distribution systems: introduction and methods. Introduction to OpenDSS. Models of grid elements and power flow methods in OpenDSS. Automating simulations using Python and DSS Extensions. Large-scale examples of distribution systems in OpenDSS.

Duration: 30 hours

Stochastic Analysis of Modern Electric Distribution Systems

Topic: Stochastic Analysis of Modern Electric Distribution Systems

Details: Power system introduction. General aspects of computational modelling and simulation. Deterministic/stochastic modelling and analysis of electric vehicles and solar photovoltaic systems in electric distribution systems. Modelling and analysis of load profiles.

Duration: 30 hours

Power Quality

Topic: Recent topics in Power Quality

Details: Emerging technologies in power systems. Power quality: definitions and characterizations. Impacts of modern technologies on power quality. Analysis of high-frequency distortions. Analysis of stray voltage. Techniques for detection and information extraction from disturbances in measurements (Power Quality Data Analytics).

Duration: 30 hours

Electric Mobility

Topic: Impacts of Electric Mobility in Electric Distribution Systems

Details: Characterization of electric vehicles and chargers. Impacts of charging electric vehicles in distribution systems. Steady-state analysis of electric distribution systems. Allocation of chargers for electric vehicles.

Duration: 30 hours 

Online

Emerging Topics in Power Quality

Topics: Smart grids - characterization. Power quality: definitions and characterizations. Impacts of modern technologies on power quality. Techniques for detection and information extraction from disturbances in measurements (Power Quality Data Analytics).

Details: The modern power distribution systems are changing from a passive and unsupervised structure to an active supervised structure due to the new loads, such as electric vehicles, electronic appliances, distributed generators and high-resolution measurement equipment. Despite the technical and environmental advantages, such advancements create new types of impacts on the power quality of distribution systems. For instance, the increase in high-frequency distortions from power electronic devices, the increase in stray voltage due to unbalanced loads, new resonances from filters of electronic devices and so on. This scenario concerns companies in the electrical energy sector, mostly due to the lack of information about how to identify and avoid/mitigate these impacts on power quality. The first step to overcoming this situation is to characterize the causes and potential consequences of the new problems. On the other hand, technological advance has also allowed the installation of more high-resolution measurement devices. As a consequence, there are more data available about the power quality of the system, allowing the identification, and even anticipation of problems. It is necessary to know methods to extract information from disturbances in the measurements and the types of events in which each method can be applied. In this context, this tutorial presents and characterizes emerging problems related to power quality that arise from the connection of new technologies (loads, generators, grid components etc.) into the modern power distribution system. Moreover, methods for monitoring and locating problems will be presented, which have become useful with the advanced measurement infrastructure in modern distribution systems.

Duration: 20 hours

Last period: September 2022 (Link)

Distributed Energy Resources: An Introduction

Details: The integration of distributed energy resources (DERs) such as photovoltaic and wind generators, electric vehicles and storage systems into the electrical distribution systems has become a reality due to the use of different primary energy sources; technological advances; government incentives and environmental concerns. The installation of these technologies into power distribution systems resulted in several technical impacts. The main factors that need to be evaluated are: steady-state voltage profile, conductor and transformer loading, technical losses, power quality indices and protection schemes, responsible to ensure the proper operation of the system. Therefore, engineers must know about DERs, its potentials impacts and how to mitigate them to ensure the operation within regulatory limits. In this context, this tutorial presents the characteristics and computational models of the main DERs available to distribution systems, especially photovoltaic and wind generators, electric vehicles, and storage systems. Moreover, the impacts of DERs on distribution systems will be discussed. For each impact, the goal is to show its characteristics, critical conditions, computational tools to identify and methods to mitigate. In the end, future trends of DERs will be discussed.

Duration: 20 hours

Last period: May 2022 (Link)