Plenary speakers

Biography

Janusz Bialek (FIEEE) is Principal Research Fellow at Imperial College London. Previously, he held Chair Professor positions at the University of Edinburgh, Durham University, Newcastle University and the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech, Moscow). He resigned from Skoltech when Russia invaded Ukraine. Janusz has been Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator of multi-million research grants funded by UK Research Councils and industry, and has acted as a consultant to the UK Government, the European Commission, and the International Energy Agency. He has published widely on the integration of renewable generation in power systems, smart grids, power system dynamics, prevention of electricity blackouts, and power markets.

Prof. Janusz Bialek

Affiliation: Imperial College London (UK)

Research challenges of a transition to power electronics-based power systems

Increased penetration of wind and solar PV plants and batteries means that power system characteristics are no longer determined by the physics of synchronous generators operating in traditional plants but can be (almost) freely shaped by power electronics, i.e. programmable inverters. This represents the biggest change to power system operation and control since AC power systems were first developed at the end of the 19th century. The presentation will discuss the differences between traditional and power electronics-based power systems, the challenges for power system modelling and analysis, and limits to what extent power electronics can replace synchronous machines. It will conclude with a discussion on frequency control and system stability. Relevance for the Iberian blackout on 28 April 2025 will also be discussed.

Biography

Pierluigi Mancarella is the Chair Professor of Electrical Power Systems at The University of Melbourne, Australia, and Professor of Smart Energy Systems at The University of Manchester, UK. He received his MSc (2002) and PhD (2006) degrees from the Politecnico di Torino, Italy, worked as a post-doc at Imperial College London, UK, and has held visiting positions in the US (NREL), France (Ecole Centrale de Lille), Chile (University of Chile), China (Tsinghua University), and the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Denmark (as 2024 Otto Monsted Visiting Professor). His research interests include techno-economic modelling of low-carbon grids, multi-energy systems, energy system planning under uncertainty, and reliability and resilience of future networks. He has been involved in or led more than 100 research projects worldwide, is author of several books and over 400 research publications, and is a Clarivate highly cited researcher.

Prof. Pierluigi Mancarella

Affiliation: The University of Melbourne (Australia) and The University of Manchester (UK)

Unlocking the demand side: virtual power plants, energy communities and microgrids

Distributed Energy Resources (DER) are becoming widespread in most countries worldwide. In particular, at the household level, rooftop solar photovoltaics and battery energy storage systems — and soon electric vehicles — are poised to play an essential role in power system decarbonisation and more consumer-centric markets. Local energy systems with shared assets, such as community storage, are also emerging as important options. This talk will present fundamental techno-economic aspects of key aggregation approaches enabling the large-scale deployment of DER, namely virtual power plants, energy communities, and microgrids. It will discuss their main features (“what”), the conditions under which each model should be considered (“where”), and the technical and commercial opportunities and challenges for stakeholders such as aggregators, energy managers and distribution system operators (“who”). Several case studies from recent international projects will be used to illustrate the concepts presented.