Dr. Yunhe Hou is an Associate Professor and Deputy Head of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). He earned his B.E. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China, in 1999 and 2005, respectively. From 2005 to 2009, he held postdoctoral positions at Tsinghua University, Iowa State University, and University College Dublin. In 2010, he was a Visiting Scientist at the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems at MIT. Since joining HKU in 2009, he has also served as a Guest Professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (since 2017) and an Academic Adviser at the China Electric Power Research Institute (since 2019).

Dr. Hou is recognized among the top 1% of scholars worldwide by Clarivate Analytics and as one of the Career-Long World’s Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University. He chairs the IEEE PES Task Forces on Power System Restoration with Renewables and contributes as an expert to the IEC SC8A Working Group. He is currently an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Power Systems and the Journal of Modern Power Systems and Clean Energy, having previously served as an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid (2016–2021).

Panel 5: How to Deal with Penetration of Renewables in the Grid?

Thursday, January 16th
16:15 – 17:45 | HG F 30 | Audi Max

Moderator: Albert Kammerer (Ansaldo Energia)

Panelists: Yunhe Hou (The University of Hong Kong), Frank Robin Muller (Amprion),  Brett Oakleaf (NREL), Andrew J. Owens (Hitachi Energy)

Abstract:

Power grids have been built on the concept of centralized power production. Large power units in the 10-1’000 MWe range provide steady base load power supply which is dispatchable on demand. Their capacity has been typically matching the local demand for power and therefore providing a stable and reliable power system. However, with the ever increase of renewables, the existing power grids must adapt. Several factors strain the capacity of power grids: intermittency of renewable power, increased distance for power transmission, lack of large-scale storage and lack of reactive power. This panels addresses this trend and highlights the challenges and possible solutions.