Tutorial 1

 

Control and Protection of Power Electronics-Dominated Power System

Objectives and motivation
The rapid transition toward carbon neutrality has led to a paradigm shift in power systems, moving from traditional synchronous machine-based architectures to power electronics-dominated power systems. With the high penetration of inverter-based resources, the system exhibits complex dynamics that differ significantly from conventional systems. Traditional control and protection schemes are facing unprecedented challenges, such as resonance instability, fault current limiting, and protection maloperation.

This tutorial aims to introduce advances in modeling, control, and protection for power electronics-dominated power systems. The primary objectives include:
1. Providing a comprehensive understanding of dynamic behaviors of grid-following and grid-forming converters under complex grid conditions.
2. Analyzing the fundamental conflicts and coordinated control between protection relays and inverter-based resources.

Novelty and Technical Innovations
This tutorial introduces the connection and the challenge between converter-level control dynamics and system-level protection. The novelty lies in two aspects: (1) revealing control dynamics of grid-following converters and grid-forming converters under complex grid conditions; (2) introducing coordinated methodologies that synchronize damping controllers with protection relays.

Tutorial content:
Part 1: Stability analysis and damping design of grid-following converters
Part 2: Stability analysis and damping design of grid-forming converters
Part 3: Coordinated control and protection strategies for inverter-based resources

This tutorial provides a comprehensive analysis of grid-following and grid-forming control architectures within power electronics-dominated power systems. It begins by exploring the fundamental dynamics and grid-support functionalities of converters, followed by a detailed assessment of their impact on conventional protection schemes. By integrating converter control theory with protection engineering, this tutorial offers practical insights into ensuring the stability and security of future inverter-dominated grids.




Tutorial Speakers





Shan He
Hefei University of Technology, China


Shan He (Senior Member, IEEE) received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Northeast Electric Power University, Jilin, China, in 2015, the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, in 2018, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark, in 2022.
From 2022 to 2025, he worked as a Postdoc with Department of Energy, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark. In 2021, he was a Visiting Researcher with RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany. In 2023, he was a Research Associate with Kiel University, Kiel, Germany. In 2025, he was a Visiting Researcher with Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Tronholm, Norway. He is currently a Full Professor with School of Electric Engineering and Automation, Hefei University of Technology, China. His research interests include renewable energy integration, energy storage, and nuclear fusion.
Dr. He was the recipient of Nordic Energy Challenge Award, Future Digileader Award, IES-SYPA Award, and PCMP Best Reviewer Award. He served as Guest Associate Editor for IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, Guest Managing Editor for INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ELECTRICAL POWER & ENERGY SYSTEMS, Associate Editor for Q1 Journals PROTECTION AND CONTROL OF MODERN POWER SYSTEMS, ENGINEERED SCIENCE.





Chao Wu
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China


Chao Wu (Senior Member, IEEE) received the B.Eng. degree from He Fei University of Technology, Hefei, China, in 2014, and the Ph.D. degree from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, in 2019, both in electrical engineering.
Currently, he is an Associate Professor with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China. From 2019 to 2021, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher with the Department of Energy Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark. His research interests include modeling, control, and stability analysis of power electronics in renewable energy applications.





Guoqing Gao‌
Aalborg University, Denmark


Guoqing Gao (Member, IEEE) received the B.S. degree from Xidian University, Xi’an, China, in 2017, the M.S. degree from Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China, in 2020, and the Ph.D. degree from Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark in 2024, all in electrical engineering.
Since 2024, he has been with the Department of Energy Technology, Aalborg University, as a Post-Doctoral Researcher. He is currently a Carlsberg Internationalization Postdoctoral Fellow with Imperial College London, Oxford University, and Aalborg University.
He serves as a CIGRE Working Group Member (JWG C4/A3.79: Temporary Overvoltage Protection Technologies for High-Voltage Transmission Systems with Large-Scale Renewable Energy Bases), Leading Guest Editor for Electronics and Guest Editor for Frontiers in Energy Research. His research interests include control, protection, and stability analysis of power electronic converter interfaced grids.