Issue: 86 | March 2023
We hope you enjoy this issue of the PSC News and welcome any feedback you have.
ebook: Perspectives on the Energy Transition
PSC’s latest eBook, Perspectives on the Energy Transition, takes readers through some of the underrepresented facts and conclusions reached to address the tension often accompanied by energy transition conversations.
PSC welcomes APAC managing director
PSC announces the appointment of Ashley Grohn as Managing Director for the Asia Pacific region. His skills and experience in the APAC energy industry are advantageous resources for our clients as we work together to power a sustainable world.
Employee Spotlight: Marilyn Barragan
PSC’s employee spotlight segment looks at what our hardworking people are all about when they’re not serving our clients and each other at work. This spotlight is on Marilyn Barragan, a North America Power Networks Studies Consultant based in our Burnaby, British Columbia office in Canada.
Power system quality: Mitigating the challenges
PSC’s energy specialists, Daniel Wang & Arash Tavighi, provide insights into the critical need to mitigate disruptive factors within the modern energy grid, highlighting the importance of identifying and reducing these risks at the earliest stages.
PSC partners with Monash University
The PSC Group is proud to announce it has signed a partnership agreement with Monash University Energy Institute to conduct research that explores better integration of electricity storage into energy markets.
Fault current from renewable technologies
When renewable resources supply an electrical network, new challenges arise. In this article, a cohort of PSC’s subject matter experts examines how to deal specifically with low fault current to ensure the system’s safety.
Physical security of the grid – Part 1 and 2
In this two-part Q&A series, PSC speaks with Lee Pagnan and Jonathan Wheeler from Barco, a supplier of advanced display and connectivity solutions found in many utility control rooms, about their customers’ concerns with the security of their physical grid infrastructure.
Optimal sizing of renewable generation plants
In an age when renewable technologies enable power plants to be built at virtually any size, how do you calculate the optimum size based on a vast range of economic and other factors? A cohort of PSC’s subject matter experts examines this topic in this article.
Unlocking the value of DERs
PSC is pleased to share this article from guest contributor Thomas Lee, Co-founder and CSO of Derapi. Thomas writes about the role he sees software and digital technologies playing in connecting and integrating DERs to accelerate electrification and decarbonization.
The complexity of renewables – Part 1, 2 & 3
In this series of short technical articles, we look at various topics that illustrate the complexity of renewables as a concept within the ongoing energy transition. Here are the first three articles with many more to come!
The first article by PSC’s Zia Emin considers a range of system performance metrics and what we can expect as the energy transition evolves.
In Part 2, PSC’s Zia Emin writes about the complexity that can arise from harmful interactions with increasing network-connected power electronic devices.
In Part 3, PSC’s Oscar Amaya writes about building dynamic network equivalent models to reduce the complexity of studying the potential impact of renewables on the full-scale power system.
PSC is a proud sponsor of Electra CIGRE’s digital magazine
PSC attended DistribuTECH International in San Diego
Pictured left to right: Mandhakini Motukuri, Kevin Cheung, Corie Luitjens, John Camilleri and Rick Hudella.
Enlit Australia
PSC’s Head of Strategic Service Development Matthew Robinson was a panelist discussing the value of DERs and chairing a panel on Sector Coupling March 22-23 in Melbourne.
PSC is Silver Sponsor of ETS23
Zpryme’s Energy Thought Summit is celebrating its 10th anniversary April 3-6 in Austin, TX. We hope to see you there!
PSC celebrated International Women’s day on March 8
On March 8, PSC recognized all the talented women working within our global industry. We are grateful for our clients, our colleagues and our community of dedicated women for their contributions and achievements every day.
PSC hosted five University students for a week of training
On March 13-17, it was our pleasure discussing all things energy with University of Washington’s Cesar Robles, Margot Adam and Vanessa Affandy (during their finals week!), and from Washington State University Gie Coulibaly and William Tablan (during their spring break!).
— PSC Asia Pacific —
PSC welcomes Ashley Grohn to PSC as the new Managing Director for Asia Pacific. Ashley has over 25 years’ experience exclusively in the power sector in the UK, Middle East, Africa, SE Asia and ANZ. Ashley is based in our Brisbane, Australia, office.
PSC welcomes James Bott to the APAC Operational Technologies team as a SCADA Engineer. James Bott is an engineer with experience in the energy, manufacturing and processing industries. He has obtained a Masters and two Bachelors degrees with qualifications in electrical engineering, computer science and control engineering from the University of New South Wales, Australia, and trade qualifications as a licensed industrial electrician/ instrumentation technician. James is based in our Sydney, Australia, office.
PSC welcomes Pieter Kotze to the APAC Operational Technologies team as a Senior Telecommunications Engineer. Pieter has over 31 years of extensive experience in the networking industry. He has detailed networking knowledge, including Ethernet, SDH, ATM, IP and xDSL, and a focus on all aspects of design from the physical to the application layer, including network management and security. Pieter is based in our Adelaide, Australia, office.
PSC welcomes Kate Watson back to the APAC Power Networks team as a full-time Power Systems Engineer. Kate received her double degrees from the Queensland University of Technology in Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) (Electrical) and Bachelor of Science (Environmental) last year. During the past summer holidays, she worked as an undergraduate/vacation engineer in Aurecon, Energy Queensland and PSC. Kate is based in our Brisbane, Australia, office.
PSC welcomes Mohamed Abdelrashid (Mo) to our APAC Power System Studies team as a Senior Power Systems Engineer. He completed his B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering in 2008 and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Electrical Power Engineering at the University of Wollongong, Australia. Mo brings with him over 12 years of experience in the field of HV Power System Distribution and Generation across different sectors. Mo is based in our Brisbane, Australia, office.
PSC welcomes Anjana Madurapperuma (AJ) to the APAC Power System Studies team as a Power Systems Studies Engineer. He graduated from Canterbury University with an Electrical Engineering degree in 2014. AJ will be working closely with Principal Engineer Steven Howell. Anjana is based in our Christchurch, New Zealand, office.
— PSC North America —
PSC welcomes Dr. Jenny Zhou to our Power Networks North America team as Senior Manager of EMT and HVDC Studies. Jenny holds a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Manitoba, Canada. Jenny has over 34 years of experience in power system studies, system planning, and operation in utilities, research, and consulting. Dr. Zhou is an internationally renowned expert in Electromagnetic Transient (EMT) Simulation and High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) Technology. Jenny is based remotely in Calgary, Alberta in Canada.
PSC welcomes Qiang Han to the Power Networks North America team as Manager of Power System Studies. Qiang holds a Master’s in Electrical Engineering from the University of British Columbia in Canada. In his 15 years of experience, Qiang has built expertise in many areas, including transmission planning, voltage stability, transient stability, power system stabilizer tuning, WECC generator testing and model validation, NERC TPL compliance, load modeling, electromagnetic transient (EMT) studies, and interconnection studies of renewable generation. Qiang is based in our Burnaby, BC office near Vancouver.
— PSC Europe —
PSC welcomes Adam Evans to the PSC UK team as a Strategic Advisory Consultant. Adam holds an MSc in Renewable Energy, Enterprise and Management from Newcastle University and an undergraduate degree in Business Economics from Cardiff Metropolitan University. Adam is based in our Newcastle office in the UK.
PSC welcomes Sunyoung (Sun) Lim to the UK Power Networks team as a Senior HVDC Consultant. Sun has an MSc in Electrical Power Systems from the University of Birmingham and a Bachelor’s degree in electronic communication engineering from Kwangwoon University. Sun has previously worked in the South Korean HVDC market as an HVDC electrical engineer. Sun is based in our Stafford, UK office.
PSC welcomes Graham Buchanan to our People team in the UK as our Senior Human Resources Business Partner. Graham joins us following a short career break to relocate to the UK’s Northeast and a period looking after his young family. Prior to that he has had a varied career in the HR field working across the media, technology and retail sectors. Graham is based out of the Newcastle, UK, office.