Masoud Fathizadeh -PhD, PE Professor Fathizadeh has been with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology Purdue University Calumet since 2001. He has worked over 15 years both for private industries and national research laboratories such as NASA, Argonne and Fermi National Laboratories. Dr. Fathizadeh has established his own consulting and engineering company in 1995 specializing in power system, energy management and automation systems. During last twenty years the company performed many private and government projects. Dr. Fathizadeh has published numerous journal, conference and technical articles. He has been instrumental figure in establishing mechatronic engineering technology at Purdue University Calumet. His areas of interests are, control systems, power systems, power electronics, energy, and system integration. Dr. Fathizadeh is a registered professional engineer in the State of Illinois.Mr. Uditha Sudheera Navaratne, Purdue University -West Lafayette
Effect of Electrical Alternative Energy Sources on Power Grid AbstractRecent geopolitical unrest in the Mideast, high consumption of fossil fuel by new large industrial bodies and their environmental impacts encouraged many countries to find alternative sources of energy. Wind, solar, wave and geothermal energy have received most of the attentions in recent years. However, except geothermal energy, these energy alternatives are cyclical and cannot produce energy at any time readily and reliably. Storage systems such as battery banks have been used to store the energy for future use. One of the most widely used alternative sources for electric energy production is solar energy. Solar cells are used to harness the energy from nature and produce electricity. Solar cells are connected in series and parallel and assembled into a panel. Electric output power of solar a panel is a function of location, time of the day and season. Average daily output of a flat plate collector at latitude tilt in the contiguous United States is 3 -7 kWh/m²/day and the performance is less in high-altitude areas like Europe. Solar cells produce direct current (DC) which must be converted to alternating current (AC) using a grid tie inverter in existing distribution grids that use AC. This incurs an energy loss of 4 -12 percent. However, high voltage DC grid transportation has less energy waste than AC grid; so, there is a trade-off consideration in deciding to construct high voltage DC grids and apply the inverter at the consumers' end.