The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Power and Energy Society Student Chapter at UCD are running an All-Ireland energy research competition and panel discussion at ESB International headquarters on Tuesday, August 18.
Energy research students will be asked to deliver an elevator pitch of their thesis, with three slides in three minutes. The event winner will take part in the national ‘Thesis in Three’ competition that showcases world-class research from across the country.
The event addresses the challenge of communicating often complicated research under the three criteria of context, clarity and charisma. Equally challenging will be the judging of the participants, taken up by Richard Crowley of EirGrid, Carol Murphy of ESB International, and Dr Lisa Ryan of the UCD Energy Institute. The event winner will be given a tablet prize sponsored by the UCD Energy Institute.
Last year’s winner was UCD PhD student Alison O’Connell, whose thesis presentation was on the challenges of integrating distributed resources, such as electric vehicles and photovoltaics, onto the electricity distribution network. The event is open to energy researchers from across the island of Ireland and is a great opportunity to get an insight into the major challenges and research questions facing the energy sector.
“We’re getting great interest in the event this year and hope to host researchers from the Environmental Research Group at University College Cork all the way to the Electrical Engineering Group at Queen’s University Belfast and many others in-between” said Padraig Daly, chair of the UCD IEEE PES Student Chapter.
Panel discussion – Death of the kWh price?
The research presentations will take place in the morning, followed by a panel discussion in the afternoon jointly hosted by Dr Owen Wilson, CEO of the Electricity Association of Ireland (EAI), and Dr Muireann Lynch of the ESRI. The title of the discussion will be ‘The death of the kWh price? Disruption to the energy paradigm’. The discussion will deal with the impact of new sustainable technologies on the structure of the electricity market, from producers down to consumers.
“I am delighted to chair this event, the topic is highly relevant to the transformation of energy supply and use currently underway in Europe” said Owen Wilson of the EAI. The event will host a discussion between major industry figures in the sector, including policy, system operators, network owners, utilities, end-use and demand response.
The central theme of the discussion will be the paradigm shift that the industry is going through, from a system and market that was designed for the top-down generation, transmission, distribution and supply of electricity from fossil-fuels, to one of distributed sustainable generation and active customer participation and back-up capability. There is the possibility that energy could transition from being a commodity to a service, particularly as renewable generation continues to bring down wholesale electricity prices and consumers look to take greater control over their consumption. These and many other questions facing the industry will be put to the panel members on the day.
Key industry figures in attendance
Discussing these questions will be a panel of leading industry figures, including Marguerite Sayers, managing director of ESB Networks, who will give the network challenges, from an operation and planning perspective, of both hosting and responding to the new technologies emerging onto the distribution network. Rodney Doyle, director of market operations at the Single Electricity Market Operator (SEMO) will offer the market operation and design perspective.
Dr Fergal McNamara, senior energy advisor at the department of communications, energy and natural resources (DCENR) will give the policy and regulation context. Glen Dimplex, who plan to use smart electric thermal storage systems (SETS) to help integrate renewable generation and manage system costs, will also participate in the discussion.
The event will start at 9:30am, with the student research presentations in the morning. The panel discussion will take place at 12:45pm.
For more information on participating in the research competition or to register your attendance for these events,
click here, or email:
Padraig.daly@ucdconnect.ie