Since we’ve started sending this newsletter out quarterly instead of bi-monthly, we have a lot of great content to share from our global team of energy experts!
Some of our content is technical, but most of it is written to be relevant to anyone working within the electric energy industry today.
We’re covering a wide variety of topics in this issue from BESS to carbon capture, to AI, to gigafactories, the duck curve, and more.
We hope you enjoy this issue of the PSC News and welcome any feedback you have.
The role of BESS in future power systems
Join us in this industry-informing eBook based on a series of articles by PSC subject matter experts Djino Pirsic, Hesam Marzooghi, Amir Mehrtash and Mohammad Seidaliseifabad about the role of BESS in future power systems.
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 next three articles in our series.
In Part 6, PSC’s Kevin Smethurst and Shahab Khan look at frequency response services, requirements and opportunities.
In Part 8, PSC UK’s Carlos Ferrandon-Cervantes, Dereck Dombo, Abraham Alvarez and James Wilson look into the complex interplay of factors influencing transient stability, particularly in systems with a high proportion of renewable generation.
How advances in AI will change utility grid operations, Parts 1&2
Artificial intelligence can parse through Big Data in mere seconds and with the ability to learn and ultimately make decisions in real time, utility grid operations are in store for a significant transformation.
In Part 1 of this two-part series, PSC’s David Thomas discussed AI’s potential to positively impact grid operations.
Transitioning to renewable energy sources may not be enough to achieve global net zero. PSC UK’s Managing Director Tim Miles explains the issues surrounding carbon capture technologies as they emerge to find their place in a low-carbon future.
In the context of integrating hydrogen into the power grid, PSC UK’s Carlos Ferrandon-Cervantes & Abraham Alvarez-Bustos discuss power system modeling for hydrolysis loads and the importance of accurately detailing the behaviors of such nascent technologies toward a low-carbon environment.
Global Awareness: Cyber Security and Regulatory Bodies
In response to increasing grid vulnerabilities, regulatory bodies like NERC and EPCIP are imposing stricter measures to create a more secure and reliable grid. PSC’s Sr. Director of Cyber Security Solutions, Jeffery Mayger, looks at regulatory bodies that make cyber security their top concern.
Automated testing for market-rule certification processes
PSC specializes in developing software applications for Energy Market Systems worldwide, tailored to meet specific, regional market-rule obligations. To ensure the quality and reliability of these systems, PSC implements an automated testing process that significantly transforms how software is tested and delivered.
Reliable by design: The power of EMT-type design studies for offshore wind substation development
This article, authored by PSC’s Jenny Zhou and Iman Kaffashan, explores how EMT-type design studies can help with equipment rating and grid connection compliance and why they’re essential in offshore wind substation development.
Active Filters: A versatile solution for stabilizing the power supply
Between harmonic compensations, voltage fluctuations, and adapting to intermittent energy sources, balancing the power supply is a delicate task. PSC’s Daniel Wang discusses active filters as a versatile solution to help maintain a stable and reliable flow of electricity.
Substations play a critical role in the efficient transmission and distribution of electrical power. In this article, PSC Canada’s Jenny Zhou and Iman Kaffashan highlight the key aspects and benefits of EMT-type detailed design studies and substation insulation coordination to ensure reliable substation operation.
PSC UK’s Syahrul Saad and Mahmoud Elkazaz share their thoughts on the ramifications of climate change on our power system networks and how we must adapt to new climate realities on the path to net zero.
PSC UK’s Lewis Feldon and James Wilson contemplate the rise of solar PV technology and its expanding impact on the ‘duck curve’ – a power production graph highlighting the timing imbalance between peak demand and solar power generation.
PSC UK’s Adam Evans, Dereck Dombo and Syahrul Saad take a look at two major projects that are paving the way for large-scale adoption of green hydrogen providing useful insights into how a green hydrogen economy could work.
The automotive industry’s transition to EVs is creating mega demand for lithium batteries worldwide. PSC UK’s Tim Miles discusses the role of gigafactories in the global economy’s move toward reducing carbon emissions.
PSC Australia’s Steve Raynes, a principal test analyst in Perth, explains why retrospectives are important to PSC’s Energy Applications team and shares how others can effectively facilitate them to help teams continually improve.
One way PSC invests in the energy industry’s next generation is by building relationships within academia. Here, PSC’s Dr. Anil Jampala writes about his experience hosting five local university students from Washington State University (WSU) and the University of Washington (UW) in a win-win collaboration this spring.
Ray Young, PSC NZ Manager of Real-Time Systems & Power Network Solutions, shares his insights about hosting summer engineering interns from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand.
PSC welcomes Europe/UK Power Networks & HVDC General Manager
PSC welcomes Seamus Kennedy as its new GM of Power Networks and HVDC for Europe/UK. Seamus brings a unique combination of onshore & offshore construction technical expertise, project management and leadership skills. He’ll have many opportunities to put his unique skill set to work building and inspiring the team focused on renewables.
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 Payam Tavakoli, a North America Power System Studies Consultant based in our Burnaby, British Columbia office in Canada.
Susan Scott, author of Fierce Conversations, writes, “The conversation is the relationship.” PSC’s Anil Jampala and Philip Jap explain the relevance of this sentiment in relation to their attendance at GE Digital’s Orchestrate 2023 conference.
PSC UK sent a delegation of its experts including Rose Urban, Hugo Hui and Joe Oliver to the Jicable 23 conference in Lyon, France. Here they share their main takeaways from this global event focused on the important role cables play in current and future power grids.
PSC’s Grant McCormick attended Inter Solar Europe in Munich June 14-16 and shares his thoughts about “The smarter E Europe” part of the conference, where an integrated approach to 24/7 renewable energy supply was the theme.
PSC welcomes Larry Dart to the PSC team as the Head of Corporate Services. Larry is originally from the US Midwest and has previously lived in Seattle. He intends to relocate back to Seattle by the end of this year and will be based in our global headquarters office in Kirkland, WA, near Seattle. In the last twenty years, Larry has been working in operations roles for a range of companies in New Zealand and the US. Most recently he has been the Group General Manager of procurement, IT and HR for Thermosash, a New Zealand-based building cladding designer and manufacturer. Larry is currently based in our Johnsonville, New Zealand, office.
PSC welcomes Chin Choo to the APAC Power Networks team as a Senior Power Network Solutions Engineer. Chin brings 15+ years of electricity generation and distribution experience. She holds a Bachelor’s and Master of Engineering (Electrical & Electronic) from The University of Auckland. She has a great understanding of power system operation, protection and control, electricity markets, power generation and excitation systems, underfrequency load shedding schemes, transformer voltage regulation systems and arc flash hazard analysis. Chin is also a member of Engineering New Zealand and CIGRE Working Group B5 Protection & Automation. Chin is based in our Melbourne, Australia, office.
PSC welcomes Nanami Kuwazuru to our APAC Power Systems Studies team as a Power System Studies Engineer. She has just completed her final semester of Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical) at QUT with minors in Software Engineering and German. She has previously completed internships in the rail and defense industries. Nanami is based in our Brisbane, Australia, office.
PSC welcomes Isuru Liyanage to the PSC team as our new Global Senior Financial Analyst. Isuru has over 14 years of experience in the field of commercial finance, managing budgeting and forecasting cycles in global listed corporations. Isuru is based in our Sydney, Australia, office.
PSC welcomes Habibur Rahaman to the APAC Power Networks team as a Power System Studies Engineer. Habibur holds a Ph.D. from the UNSW, Sydney, Australia, a MSc. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Ulsan, South Korea, and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from IIUC, BD. He brings experience in the generation connection field based on a university-funded grant provided by ARENA at the University of New South Wales. Habibur is based in our Sydney, Australia, office.
PSC welcomes Rajiv Pratap to the APAC Power Networks team as a Senior Power System Studies Engineer. Raj brings power system engineering and DSO planning experience to his new PSC role. He holds a Master of Engineering (with Distinction) and a Bachelor of Engineering (First Class Honours) in Electronic and Computer Systems from the Victoria University of Wellington. Rajiv is based in our Christchurch, New Zealand, office.
PSC welcomes Teddy Dulnoan to the APAC Operational Technologies team as a Telecommunications Technician. Teddy has worked in telecommunications for 12 years with experience including installing wideband services, transmission equipment and mobile equipment in the Northern Territory. He has also worked on the digital video network that carried the traffic for TV networks like Channel 10, Channel 9 and ABC and worked on IP and Core network equipment. Teddy is based in our Adelaide, Australia, office.
PSC welcomes Rahul Saini to the APAC Power Network Solutions team. Rahul joins us as a Senior Electrical Engineer with 16 years of professional experience in industrial, oil and gas, and renewables. He has a diverse background in design, power system studies, industrial modeling, arc flash analysis, protection and coordination, hazardous area classification, renewable generation design and other specialist studies. Rahul is experienced in multiple software packages including ETAP (also spent part of his career with them), PSCAD/EMTDC, PSS/E, SKM PowerTools, EDSA and PowerFactory. Rahul is based in our Melbourne, Australia, office.
PSC welcomes Rahul Rana to our APAC Australian Operational Technology & Data Analytics team as a Senior SCADA/EMS Engineer. Rahul has a strong background in project engineering, delivery and design in SCADA, EMS, DMS & GMS, database modeling and much more. He brings a wealth of experience from his time working for both GE and OSI in India. Rahul is based in our Darwin, Australia, office.
PSC welcomes Cici Yang to PSC as our Global Facilities Coordinator. She came to PSC after five years as the Facilities Manager at Downer Utilities in Melbourne where she was responsible for managing multiple locations. Cici is based in our Melbourne, Australia, office.
— PSC North America —
PSC welcomes Bijoy Chatt to the NA Power Networks team as a Senior Power System Studies Consultant. Bijoy has over 30 years of technical and leadership experience in the power industry. Previously, he worked for several US utilities, energy consulting companies, and Synchro-phasor manufacturing company. He was deeply involved with NE-ISO in studying Hydropower from Canada to New England, New England’s Installed Capacity Requirements (ICR) and off-shore wind projects. Bijoy was also involved with a large project procuring Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS) for a major west coast utility. Bijoy is based remotely in the USA.
PSC welcomes Anthony Smoke to the NA Operational Technologies team as a Senior SCADA/EMS Consultant. Anthony joins us with over 38 years of technical and leadership experience. He has previous experience with utilities and vendors, giving him a great perspective as a consultant. Anthony’s strong suit is mentoring young engineers and holding regular sessions to train engineers at PSC’s strategic accounts. Anthony is based remotely in the USA.
PSC welcomes Paul Tollefson to the North America team as the new Sales & Marketing Lead. Paul has spent the last five years working in the solar power industry. He brings a strong sales operations and proposals background and is excited to provide value to our service delivery team. He also brings his experience as an entrepreneur, having built, launched and sold a mobile application and as the owner and co-manager of a semi-professional soccer team, Lacey Lights, that competes in the Cascadia Premier League. Paul is based remotely in the USA.
PSC welcomes Mohammed Nassar to the Power Networks North America team. Mohammed graduated from Alexandria University with a degree in Electrical Engineering and holds a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo (2017), where his research topic was Microgrid enabling towards the implementation of future smart grids. Since 2017 he has been with the University of Waterloo as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Definite-term Lecturer. Mohammad is based remotely in Canada.
PSC welcomes Jun Tan to the Power Networks North America team. Jun graduated from the University of Manitoba with a second B.SC in Electrical Engineering in 2009. Over the past 14 years, Jun has been deeply involved in diverse studies and design projects, engaging clients spanning the globe. She has experience in executing power system planning studies employing tools such as PSS/E, PSLF, ASPEN Oneliner, among others, and she has assumed a leadership role in conducting system impact studies for renewable energy interconnections and load expansion projects in recent years. Jun also holds a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering (Civil Aviation) from Northwestern Polytechnical University. Prior to her move to Canada, she accumulated experience in the aircraft maintenance sector. Jun is based remotely in Canada.
PSC welcomes Javier Tarazona to the Power Networks North America team. Javier graduated from the Central University of Venezuela with a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and holds an MSc in Power Systems Analysis from the University of Manchester (1990) and a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from The University of British Columbia, where his research topic was Hybrid shifted frequency analysis-electromagnetic transients multirate simulation of power systems. Javier worked with EDELCA, a Venezuelan electricity utility that became part of Corpoelec, a national electricity corporation. He also has experience as an independent consultant. Javier is based in our Burnaby, Canada, office.
PSC welcomes Matthew Korytowski to the Power Networks North America team as a Senior Power System Studies Consultant. Matthew has been in the electric power industry for ten years. He obtained his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. He is experienced in studies and simulation model support for HVDC, FACTS, and GIS, mainly using PSCAD and PSSE software. Matthew also has programming experience and is always looking for ways to create some form of automation for tasks. Matthew is based in our Holly Springs, North Carolina, office in the USA.
PSC is pleased to announce that Gavin Darcey has joined the North America Operational Technologies team as a SCADA/EMS Consultant. Gavin brings experience and expertise in Dispatcher/Operator Training Simulator (DTS/OTS) technology, working directly with electric utilities and regulators on operational technologies. He holds a MEng and a BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Gavin is based in our Kirkland, WA, office in the USA.
— PSC Europe —
PSC welcomes Seamus Kennedy to the Europe team as General Manager, Power Network Solutions and HVDC. Seamus has over 15 years of experience in the transmission and renewables sectors, holding roles from technical specialist to project director, and earned his MEng in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Manchester. Seamus is based remotely in the UK.
PSC is pleased to announce that Alexander Yanushkevich has joined our Europe/UK Power Networks team as an Engineering Team Leader. Alex has been in the energy industry for over 10 years with a strong background in energy systems design and emerging technology applications. He holds a Ph.D. in Protection of HVDC grids, an M.Eng in Electrical Power Engineering with Honours, and a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Czech Technical University in Prague. Alex is based remotely in the UK.
PSC welcomes Chris Smith to the UK team as an HVDC Technical Director. Chris has over 20 years of experience in capital projects and innovative technology development and holds a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence Control of Large Steam Turbines from Coventry University, an MSc in Control Systems from The University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology, and a BEng (Hons) Electronic Control Systems from The University of Sheffield. Chris is based remotely in the UK.
