Booz Allen Colloquium: "Solar Energy Cost Parity Inflection & High Reliability Power Electronics"

Friday, November 22, 2013
3:00 p.m.
1110 Kim Building
Carrie Hilmer
301.405.4470
chilmer@umd.edu

Booz Allen Hamilton Distinguished Colloquium in Electrical and Computer Engineering

"Solar Energy Cost Parity Inflection & High Reliability Power Electronics"

Professor Philip Krein

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Abstract:

What is the solar energy system in your future? Photovoltaic solar energy systems are now crossing grid parity, the level at which electricity produced by PV systems begins to compete with conventional electricity grid energy. Costs for small systems have declined by about a factor of three over the past five years. This presentation defines several types of grid parity and offers a basis for comparison. It provides case studies that establish present costs and historic cost trends. Highly reliable power electronics are an essential enabler, as any costs spent on repairs quickly make grid parity untenable. Life analysis and lifetime requirements are used to show what requirements the power electronics must meet to produce competitive grid interactive power, and how reliability must be addressed from design through installation and over decades of service. Emerging long-life power electronics designs make PV power cheaper than grid power in many parts of the country today, and even before various government incentives.

Biography:

Philip Krein holds the Grainger Chair in Electric Machinery and Electromechanics as Professor and Director of the Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research interests address all aspects of power electronics, machines, drives, and electrical energy, with emphasis on nonlinear control and distributed systems. In 2001, he helped initiate the International Future Energy Challenge, a student competition involving fuel cell power conversion and energy efficiency. He holds twenty-seven U.S. patents with additional patents pending. In 2003, he received the IEEE William E. Newell Award in Power Electronics. He is a past President of the IEEE Power Electronics Society, and served as a member of the IEEE Board of Directors. He also serves on the Board of Directors of SolarBridge Technologies, a developer of long-life integrated solar energy systems.

Audience: Public  Campus  Graduate  Undergraduate  Faculty  Staff  Employers  Parents and Family 

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