9
April 4-5, 2013 • DENVER, CO
WORKSHOP-TUTORIAL
Workshop-tutorial
Distributed Generation Integration – Understanding the
Current Challenges and Opportunities
Presenters
Dr. Ravel F. Ammerman, Colorado School of Mines, Golden
Michael Coddington, National Renewable Energy Lab
(
NREL)
Blake Lundstrom, National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL)
Dr. Pankaj K. “PK” Sen, Colorado School of Mines, Golden
Time/Venue
Wednesday, April 3, 1:30PM – 5:00PM, Room: Highlands
Renewable energy resources are widely distributed
geographically and are intermittent in nature, so they cannot
be directly controlled and dispatched like the more traditional
sources of generation. Large electrical power networks have
been historically designed using centralized power generating
stations supplying customer loads over interconnected
transmission and distribution networks. Increasing the
penetration level of distributed renewable energy sources
requires adjustments to the existing operating procedure
and design philosophy of large-scale power systems.
This workshop is designed to appeal to a diverse group of
participants. Policy makers, regulators, analysts, managers,
and engineers all share a common goal of developing a better
understanding of the political, societal, and technical impacts
associated with renewable energy integration. This workshop
is primarily intended for professionalsworkingat thedistribution
level, so the challenges and opportunities for integrating
renewable energy resources into electrical distribution
systems will be featured. The workshop begins with a high-
level overview of energy resources and distributed generation
technologies, followed by an in-depth technical discussion of
distributed generation interconnection issues. Topics such as
voltage/VAR regulation and grounding, protection design and
coordination, power quality and unintentional islanding in the
presence of distributed generation will be highlighted.
Instructors
Dr. Ravel F. Ammerman
is a Teaching Professor, specializing
in energy systems, in the Electrical Engineering and Computer
Science Department at Colorado School of Mines in Golden,
Colorado. He also works part-time as a Research Associate
at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Ravel has
over 30 years of combined teaching, research and industrial
experience. Dr. Ammerman has coauthored and published
a number of award winning technical articles, published in
archival journals. His research interests include distributed
grid integration, arc flash hazard analysis, electrical safety,
computer applications in power system analysis, and
engineering education. Dr. Ammerman is a member of the
IEEE/NFPA Arc Flash Collaborative Research and Testing
Project Team. He received his B.S. in Engineering (Electric
Power/Instrumentation) from Colorado School of Mines in
1981
and his M.S. in Electrical Engineering (Power/Control)
from the University of Colorado in 1987. Dr. Ammerman
received his Ph.D. degree in Engineering Systems (Electrical
Specialty – Power Systems) at Colorado School of Mines in
2008.
