On December 12, the offline project kick-off conference and first communication conference of NSFC-UKRI_EPSRC Key Program—Interactive Operation and Resilient Control to Support Power Electronics Based Smart Urban Energy Systems, which is led by MA Hao, Vice Dean of Zhejiang University-University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Institute (ZJUI), and participated by Assistant Professor LI Chushan, was successfully held in the International Campus of Zhejiang University. Forty-three professors and student representatives from Imperial College London, Cardiff University, Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, and Hefei University of Technology attended the conference. Participants communicated and discussed cutting-edge technologies, preliminary achievements and future research plans.

Focusing on intelligent energy and ubiquitous power internet of thing, the conference held the "Urban Energy Internet 2050" Frontier Technology Forum. Professor Teng Fei from Imperial College London, Associate Professor Zhang Ning from Tsinghua University, Senior Researcher Zhang Xin from Zhejiang University and Associate Professor Li Fei from Hefei University of Technology were invited to deliver keynote speeches. The four guests presented their latest research results from various aspects such as power system optimization dispatching, integrated energy system modeling, distributed power electronic system control and harmonic suppression of new energy generation system.

In order to promote the efficient implementation of the project, the project kick-off conference and first communication conference were held after the frontier technology forum. Professor LI Hanying, Acting Vice Dean of ZJUI, delivered a speech on behalf of the International Campus of Zhejiang University. He introduced the development of ZJUI and its recent preliminary achievements to the participants. Professor LI Hanying pointed out that the project is the first Key Program of international cooperation of  NSFC on our campus, which fully embodied the unique internationalization development characteristics of ZJUI and highlighted the advantages of international cooperation of scientific research. He placed high expectations on strengthening academic communication and cooperation among the institutions and has hopes that this project will achieve fruitful research results.

Professor LI Hanying delivered a speech

Professor Ma Hao, the project leader and Vice Dean of ZJUI, introduced the research idea and research planning.  He was instrumental in forming the international research team and encouraging the support of the project to the participants.  He worked on the project  from the ground up, including research content, research plan and team building.

Professor Ma Hao introduced the project

Assistant Professor LI Chushan from Zhejiang University, Associate Professor ZHANG Ning and Dr. HOU Xiaochao from Tsinghua University, Professor MA Mingyao from Hefei University of Technology and other representatives participating in the project respectively introduced the layout plan and the first stage work in detail. The warm discussion concerning research planning, cooperation orientation, technical details and key challenges further expanded the research thought of the teams, deepened all parties’ understanding of the research work, and put forward a series of potential approaches for breaking-through innovation.

Developing smart urban distribution network is the key to realizing low-carbon and green urban development as well as promoting clean electrified energy supply. The project starts from the power electronic converter topology and control, power electronic multi-energy system planning and scheduling, power electronic system fault diagnosis and fault-tolerant control.  These research directions include the complementary advantages of Imperial College London, Cardiff University, Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University and Hefei University of Technology. Each institution has provided solutions and theoretical support for the key common problems in the application of urban distribution networks.

Before the conference, participants also explored the research facilities and campus environment of the International Campus.

Campus tour of Participants