Jeremy Watson

Jeremy Watson
University of Canterbury | UC · Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Doctor of Philosophy (Cambridge)
Lecturer at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.

About

44
Publications
40,507
Reads
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541
Citations
Introduction
My research focuses on the control and optimization of power networks. In particular I am interested in designing distributed controllers for low-inertia and hybrid AC/DC networks. I also have interests in areas such as integration of new technology into distribution networks, hosting capacity of electrical networks, power quality, and computer modelling of electrical power systems. For collaboration or postgraduate study, please message me here or email me.
Additional affiliations
January 2021 - July 2022
University of Cambridge
Position
  • Research Associate
October 2016 - January 2021
University of Cambridge
Position
  • PhD Student
November 2015 - July 2016
Unison Networks
Position
  • Engineer

Publications

Publications (44)
Article
This paper presents a method to achieve optimal active and reactive power contributions from each energy storage system in an unbalanced distribution network to minimize power loss, while ensuring network current and voltage constraints are satisfied. By modelling loads as either constant current or constant impedance, the AC optimal power-flow is...
Article
Hybrid AC/DC networks are an effective solution for future power systems, due to their ability to combine advantages of both AC and DC networks. However, they bring new technological challenges, one key area being the control of such a network. The network, and especially the interlinking converter (ILC), must be controlled to ensure that the DC an...
Article
Microgrids are increasingly recognized as a key technology for the integration of distributed energy resources into the power network, allowing local clusters of load and distributed energy resources to operate autonomously. However, microgrid operation brings new challenges, especially in islanded operation as frequency and voltage control are no...
Article
Distributed secondary frequency control for power systems, is a problem that has been extensively studied in the literature, and one of its key features is that an additional communication network is required to achieve optimal power allocation. Therefore, being able to provide stability guarantees in the presence of communication delays is an impo...
Article
This paper considers the control of AC-AC interlinking converters (ILCs) in a multi-grid network. We overview the control schemes in the literature and propose a passivity framework for the stabilization of multi-grid networks, considering both AC grid-following and AC grid-forming behavior for the ILC connections. We then analyze a range of AC/AC...
Article
Full-text available
We study the main decomposition approaches (primal, dual and primal–dual) for a distributed optimization problem from a dynamical system perspective where the couplings among the variables of the optimization problem are described by an undirected, unweighted hypergraph. We conduct stability analysis for the respective dynamical systems of the deco...
Article
Grid-forming inverter-based autonomous microgrids present new operational challenges as the stabilizing rotational inertia of synchronous machines is absent. The design of efficient control policies for grid-forming inverters is, however, a nontrivial problem where multiple performance objectives need to be satisfied, including voltage/frequency re...
Preprint
Passivity-based approaches have been suggested as a solution to the problem of decentralised control design in many multi-agent network control problems due to the plug- and-play functionality they provide. However, it is not clear if these controllers are optimal at a network level due to their inherently local formulation, with designers often re...
Article
We consider the problem of ensuring stability in a DC microgrid by means of decentralized conditions. Such conditions are derived which are formulated as input–output properties of locally defined subsystems. These follow from various decompositions of the microgrid and corresponding properties of the resulting representations. It is shown that the...
Preprint
Distributed secondary frequency control for power systems, is a problem that has been extensively studied in the literature, and one of its key features is that an additional communication network is required to achieve optimal power allocation. Therefore, being able to provide stability guarantees in the presence of communication delays is an impo...
Preprint
Full-text available
Grid-forming inverters-based autonomous microgrids present new operational challenges as the stabilizing rotational inertia of synchronous machines is absent. We propose in the paper a control architecture for frequency and voltage control with good scalability properties. At slower timescales, it allows to incorporate a distributed secondary contr...
Preprint
We consider the problem of ensuring stability in a DC microgrid by means of decentralized conditions. Such conditions are derived which are formulated as input-output properties of locally defined subsystems. These follow from various decompositions of the microgrid and corresponding properties of the resulting representations. It is shown that the...
Thesis
Electrical power is essential to modern society, and is necessary for innumerable applications from lighting, heating, household appliances, to large-scale machinery, communication and transportation. Ensuring a reliable, efficient and sustainable electrical power system is therefore crucial. At present, the generation, transmission and distributio...
Preprint
Microgrids are increasingly recognized as a key technology for the integration of distributed energy resources into the power network, allowing local clusters of load and distributed energy resources to operate autonomously. However, microgrid operation brings new challenges of its own, especially in islanded operation as frequency and voltage cont...
Article
Hybrid AC/DC networks are a key technology for sustainable electrical power systems, due to the increasing number of converter-based distributed energy resources such as solar or wind. In this paper, we consider the design of control schemes for hybrid AC/DC networks, focusing especially on the control of the interlinking converters (ILC(s)). We pr...
Article
Full-text available
There is a growing use of High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) globally due to the many advantages of Direct Current (DC) transmission systems over Alternating Current (AC) transmission, including enabling transmission over long distances, higher transmission capacity and efficiency. Moreover, HVDC systems can be a great enabler in the transition to...
Data
This data file contains the test network and equilibrium points for the case study in our submitted paper: J. Watson and I. Lestas, “Control of interlinking converter in hybrid AC/DC grids: Network stability and scalability”.
Preprint
Full-text available
Inverter-based microgrids are an important technology for sustainable electrical power systems and typically use droop-controlled grid-forming inverters to interface distributed energy resources to the network and control the voltage and frequency. Ensuring stability of such microgrids is a key issue, which requires the use of appropriate models fo...
Conference Paper
In order to reduce the reliance of power grids on conventional (and often non-renewable) generation, reliable and dispatchable converter-interfaced distributed generators (DGs) are required. Instead of relying on large rotating machines for frequency and voltage regulation, it becomes crucial to develop improved control schemes for grid-forming inv...
Conference Paper
Due to an increase in converter-interfaced renewable generation, power networks are becoming increasingly reliant on power converters, which have contrasting dynamical behaviour to rotating machines with large inertia. This results in new control challenges for the power grid. We focus in this paper on decentralized conditions that can provide stab...
Preprint
Hybrid AC/DC networks are a key technology for future electrical power systems, due to the increasing number of converter-based loads and distributed energy resources. In this paper, we consider the design of control schemes for hybrid AC/DC networks, focusing especially on the control of the interlinking converters (ILC(s)). We present two control...
Conference Paper
Hybrid AC/DC networks are a key technology for future electrical power systems, due to the increasing number of converter-based loads and distributed energy resources. In this paper, we consider the design of control schemes for hybrid AC/DC networks, focusing especially on the control of the interlinking converters (ILC(s)). We present two control...
Conference Paper
With the increasing uptake of new technologies such as electric vehicles (EVs), photovoltaic (PV) generation, wind, and LED lighting, there is a need to study their effect on the Power Quality (PQ) of the low voltage (LV) distribution network. These new technologies use power electronic converters which result in harmonics being injected into the A...
Conference Paper
With the increasing uptake of new technologies such as Photovoltaic (PV) generation, wind, electric vehicles (EVs) and LED lighting, there is a need to study their effect on the Power Quality (PQ) of the low voltage (LV) network. These new technologies use power electronic converters which result in harmonics being injected into the AC network. In...
Article
Full-text available
Steady-state voltage levels will be a significant problem in the future distribution network due to a high penetration of new technologies, particularly photovoltaics. A smart transformer which incorporates a fixed tap transformer with a power electronic voltage regulator has the potential to mitigate this problem by varying the line voltage automa...
Article
Full-text available
Smart-meter data presents an opportunity for utilities to improve their database records, and develop an low voltage (LV) model which may be useful for outage management and fault detection, isolation and response, phase balancing and network planning. In addition, impact assessment studies on new technologies can be performed. This paper presents...
Article
Full-text available
Residential rooftop-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) panels are being installed at an increasing rate, both in New Zealand and globally. There have been concerns over possible issues such as overvoltage and overcurrent. These PV systems are mostly connected at low voltage (LV). This study presents a case study of simulating the entire LV network fro...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
The desire to reduce our reliance on fossil fuel and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases has led to an increasing interest in the use of Electric Vehicles (EVs), whether all electric or plug in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV). New Zealand is ideally suited for the uptake of EVs since most of the electricity generation is from renewable resource...
Article
Full-text available
Reverse cycle air-source heat-pumps are an increasingly significant load in New Zealand and in many other countries. This has raised concern over the impact wide-spread use of heat-pumps may have on the grid. The characteristics of the loads connected to the power system are changing because of heat-pumps. Their performance during under-voltage eve...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
With the increasing uptake of new technologies (such as PV, wind, EVs and LED lighting) there is a need to study their effect on the low voltage (LV) network, and this is one part of the Green Grid project's objectives. Although detailed modelling of an LV network will provide a more accurate assessment of their impact for a given scenario and netw...
Article
Full-text available
Abstract: Reverse cycle air-source heat-pumps are an increasingly significant load in New Zealand and in many other countries. This has raised concern over the possible impact wide-spread use of heat-pumps will have on the grid. To analyse this impact, models are needed to enable system studies to be performed. In this paper, the results from testi...

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