Since my last report, I’ve finished my classes from the first semester. I’ve made conceptual progress on a topic professor Olivares is planning to discuss in a paper. The paper deals with a distributed microgrid controller that controls frequency, line congestion, and economic load sharing. We want to augment the controller to be able to deal with batteries.

I’ve made progress on the design of this controller. I’ve also joined a project dealing with power system expansion planning. My lab has developed a powerful expansion planning simulation package on top of the well-known switch platform. Recently, the team member who previously managed the computing environment used to run the simulations left for an exchange trip, and now I am positioned to help the team reacquire that expertise.

Plans for the near future? Continue working with professor Olivares on the microgrid controller paper. Continue digging into my lab’s expansion planning platform and communicate my findings to my team mates. The most positive impact of my stay in Chile this month is to help the expansion planning team get refamiliarized with their computing environment.