SAIEE Load Research Chapter | “A New Approach to Defining, Measuring and Controlling Electric Power”

This presentation was given by Prof Trevor Gaunt during an online meeting of the SAIEE Load Research Chapter on 21 May 2024. This talk looks at how the new understanding of power terms, measurement, and control can guide future load research. Electrical power systems are transforming. Technologically, new energy sources, power electronics, and digital processes are blurring the differences between transmission and distribution, and loads, sources, and storage. Structurally, competition and regulation are changing monopolies, markets, and organisations. The laws of physics, however, have not changed. Many power theories have been proposed during the past 130 years. Nearly all have problems when applied to systems with different numbers of wires, unbalance, or distortion. Recently, a new General Power Theory has been proposed, complying strictly with the laws of physics of circuits. It introduces a new paradigm for thinking about loads and power system performance. It has implications for metering, control, regulation, system operation, power electronics, research, and teaching.

Contents:
00:00 Introduction
02:50 Presentation
41:02 Questions & discussion

Presenter: Em. Professor Charles Trevor Gaunt (BScEng, MBL, PhD, FSAIEE) brings his background of 50 years employment in a utility, engineering consulting business, and academia to the analysis of complex power problems. Having encountered too many inconsistencies in diverse topics like electrification, tariff design, and geomagnetically induced currents, he joined Michel Malengret in looking for a better power theory. In 2020, they published the General Power Theory in the frequency domain, and this was followed by a two-part paper in Cigre Science and Engineering. His present interest is in supporting the development of physics-consistent measurement and control and in their applications