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As research and development of renewable and clean energy based systems is advancing rapidly, the nonlinear source emulator (NSE) is becoming very essential for testing of maximum power point trackers or downstream converters. Renewable and clean energy sources play important roles in both terrestrial and nonterrestrial applications. However, most existing NSEs have only been concerned with simulating energy sources in terrestrial applications, which may not be fast enough for testing of nonterrestrial applications. In this paper, a high-bandwidth NSE is developed that is able to simulate the behaviors of a typical nonlinear source under different critical conditions that can happen during their operations. The proposed 200-W NSE, which consists of a fourth-order output filter buck converter and a novel nonlinear small-signal reference generator, can quickly react not only to an instantaneous change in the input source but also to a load step between nominal and open circuit. Moreover, all of these operation modes have a very fast settling time of only 10 $\mu$ s, which is hundreds of times faster than that of existing works. This attribute allows for higher speed and a more efficient maximum power point tracking algorithm. The proposed NSE, therefore, offers a superior dynamic performance among devices of the same kind.

This paper presents a method that in real-time determines remedial actions, which restore stable operation with respect to aperiodic small signal rotor angle stability (ASSRAS) when insecure or unstable operation has been detected. An ASSRAS assessment method is used to monitor the stability boundary for each generator in real-time. The ASSRAS boundary represents the condition when a generator reaches the maximum steady state active power injection. The proposed control method exploits analytically derived expressions for the ASSRAS boundary and other characteristic curves in the injection impedance plane to determine an active power redispatch among selected generators to restore stable and secure operation. Since the method is purely based on analytically derived expression, the computation of the remedial actions is fast and well suited for real-time operation. The method was tested on the IEEE 14-bus and the Nordic32 test systems where results show that the method can efficiently determine the required active power redispatch to avoid an imminent instability.

This paper describes modeling, fabrication and high power optical characterization of thin gold films embedded in silicon dioxide. The propagation vector of surface plasmon polaritons has been calculated by the effective index method for the wavelength range of 750-1700 nm and film thickness of 15, 30 and 45 nm. The fabrication process of such plasmonic waveguides with width in the range of 1-100 μm and their quality inspection are described. The results of optical characterization of plasmonic waveguides using a high power laser with the peak power wavelength 1064 nm show significant deviation from the linear propagation regime of surface plasmon polaritons at the average input power of 100 mW and above. Possible reasons for this deviation are heating of the waveguides and subsequent changes in the coupling and propagation losses.

Wind power generation is expected to increase in Europe by large extent in future. This will increase variability and uncertainty in power systems. Imbalances caused due to uncertainty in wind power forecast can trigger frequency instability in the system. These imbalances are handled using operating reserves. To study the effects of these imbalances, anticipated wind scenarios for European power systems are modelled for 2020 and 2030. Wind power forecasts for different time scales and real-time available wind power are modelled. Based on these studies, this paper qualitatively analyzes the adequacy of primary and secondary reserves requirements for future European power systems. This paper also discusses the challenges due to the uncertainty in wind power forecasts and their possible solutions for wind installation scenarios for 2020 and 2030.

Due to the flexible charging and discharging capability, energy storage system (ESS) is thought of as a promising complement to wind farms (WF) in participating into electricity markets. This paper proposes a reserve-based real-time operation strategy of ESS to make arbitrage and to alleviate the wind power deviation from day-ahead contracts. Taking into account the operation strategy as well as two-price balancing market rules, a day-ahead bidding strategy of WF-ESS system is put forward and formulated. A modified gradient descent algorithm is described to solve the formulations. In the case studies, the computational efficiency of the algorithm is validated firstly. Moreover, a number of scenarios with/without considering the temporal dependence of wind power forecast error are designed and employed to compare the proposed strategy with other common ones in terms of profit.

This paper gives a comprehensive comparison of two promising silicon carbide (SiC) switching devices, i.e. normally-off SiC MOSFET and a normally-on SiC JFET, as alternatives to a conventional state of the art Si IGBT. The comparison uses datasheet information to determine conduction losses, switching transition measurements for switching loss calculations and electrical power measurements in a boost converter. Using SiC switching devices, switching energies can be reduced by almost 70% and the forward voltages of such devices are much lower compared to the IGBT which then reduce the conduction losses. This reduction in semiconductor losses can increase overall converter efficiencies up to 0.4% at 20kHz or enable high frequency operation up to 100 kHz which then reduces the size and weight of the inductor by more than 75% while still achieving efficiencies over 98.3 %.