 ELECO 2023 Invited Talks |
Mahmoud Fotuhi-FIRUZABAD Department of Electrical Engineering Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran E-mail: fotuhi@sharif.edu Abstract – The certainty that the simple flicker of a switch will immediately and uninterruptedly electrify modern society earned the power grid the distinction of being the greatest engineering achievement of the 20th century. The reliable supply of electricity is essential for sustaining economic growth, ensuring public safety, and fostering technological advancements in our modern society. However, the reliable supply of electricity is at risk driven by a number of challenges: the increasing demand for electricity coupled with aging infrastructure, random failures in the system, the increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme events, and the widespread deployment of uncertain intermittent renewable energy sources push the power grid to its physical limits. The occurrence of power outages and blackouts not only disrupts daily life but also leads to substantial financial losses. Hence, understanding factors driving large-scale power outages, and building in system reliability and resilience calls for new approaches in the way how we design, plan, and operate today’s and tomorrow’s power grids. This keynote speech delves into the emerging drivers of failures in power systems and impacts on its performance reliability. The key to ensuring uninterrupted power supply lies in innovative smart grid solutions and technologies that help limit the risk of equipment failures and operational challenges in the system on one hand and mitigate the impacts of failures and operational disruptions once they happen. The speech will introduce new grid modernization solutions to “plan” the reliable, flexible, and resilient power distribution grids of the future equipped with modern grid-enhancing technologies. The talk also discusses new models to “operate” the power grid reliably, including new maintenance models to ensure that the power system equipment remain functional during their life-time and the system operation remains reliable as renewable energy sources impose massive uncertainties. Finally, the talk delves into new models that help in fast and efficient service restoration and recovery once facing random failures or extreme emergencies in power systems. |
 Professor Mahmoud Fotuhi-FIRUZABAD Biography - Mahmoud Fotuhi-Firuzabad (IEEE Fellow, 2014) obtained B.Sc. and M.Sc. Degrees in Electrical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology and Tehran University in 1986 and 1989 respectively and M.Sc. and Ph.D. Degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1993 and 1997 respectively. He is a professor of Electrical Engineering Department in Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran. He is a member of center of excellence in power system control and management in the same department. His research interests include power system reliability/resiliency, distributed renewable generation, demand response and smart grids. His scientific activities include more than 670 papers, and supervising more than 100 masters and doctoral theses.
He served as the Editor-In-Chief of the IEEE Power Engineering Letters from 2017 to 2022.  He also serves as the Associate Editor of Nature Scientific Report, Guest Associate Editor, Special Issue on “Electric Vehicle Charging Impacts on Power Systems”, IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution, and Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Protection and Control of Modern Power Systems" (PCMP), Springer. 
 He is a Fellow of IEEE for his contribution to the application of probabilistic techniques in power system reliability assessment since 2014. |
