EECS Power faculty candidate seminar: Physics- and Data-driven Technologies for Sustainable Electric Energy Systems
About the event
School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science presents Physics- and Data-driven Technologies for Sustainable Electric Energy Systems by Dr. Amritanshu Pandey, Carnegie Mellon University
Overview
Electricity is fundamental to all human needs. The electric grid that supplies electricity is at an inflection point. Critical emerging trends are decarbonization, electrification, an evolving attack-surface for cyber threats, increasing stakeholders, and deteriorating resilience. While essential for mitigating the impacts of climate change and modernizing the grid, these trends bring forth new challenges. My research focuses on addressing these challenges from a systems-level viewpoint. More specifically, I develop analytical methods and tools that combine fundamentals from grid physics with data-driven techniques, and I pursue interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches in my research.This talk will focus on one such interdisciplinary approach for the emerging needs of electric grid analytics. I will demonstrate how a novel design philosophy derived from the circuit simulation domain can solve otherwise intractable electric grid simulation and optimization problems. I will show that a first principles-based circuit-theoretic framework can map the physics of any electric grid network into an aggregated circuit model. I will outline how these aggregated circuits’ response corresponds to the solution of grid simulation and optimization problems. I will then discuss a set of novel homotopy methods, which can ensure the solution of these aggregated circuits independent of scale and complexity. Next in the talk, I will briefly share my broader research driven by the growing availability of data on the grid. I will conclude this talk with my vision of future research with a specific focus on tackling broader challenges in the domains of interdependent cyber-physical system-of-systems, grid cybersecurity, and energy equity.
Bio
Amrit Pandey is a Special Faculty in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) with a courtesy appointment in the Engineering and Public Policy Department. His overarching research goal is to develop electric energy system technologies that will help combat climate change while modernizing the underlying system. During his doctoral work, he and his team developed a novel circuit-theoretic simulation and optimization framework for power grids. The project culminated in a new grid analytics tool: Simulation of Unified Grid Analysis and Renewables (SUGAR), which Pearl Street Technologies, Inc. has since commercialized. This work has won several best paper awards, including two best-of-the-best paper awards in IEEE PES General Meeting in 2017 and 2021, respectively. His current research on circuit-theoretic simulation and optimization is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and he leads (or has led) gridcybersecurity projects, which are funded by the Department of Energy and c3.AI Digital Transformation Institute grants. Before his doctoral research, he spent time in the industry, performing calculations to safeguard nuclear power plants during emergencies and helping wind farms maximize their power output.