CIGRE United States Next Generation Network - 5th Annual Paper Competition Provides Younger Members a Platform

The CIGRE United States Next Generation Network (NGN) includes individuals within the power systems industry with up to 10 years of experience, as well as students. The NGN seeks to facilitate a successful transition into the power systems industry by providing technical resources and networking opportunities.

 

The CIGRE U.S. Next Generation Network (NGN) strives to provide benefit and industry exposure to CIGRE’s younger members. The Paper Competition provides a platform for students and early-career professionals to showcase their knowledge and experience alongside peers with similar experience levels.

 

The competition, which is open to individuals who qualify for the NGN, allows entrants to showcase their industry prowess while competing amongst peers. The competition has several elimination rounds before one winner is ultimately selected after a live presentation from the five finalists to the annual CIGRE U.S. Grid of the Future Symposium. The winner is awarded registration and a travel stipend to the next CIGRE Paris Session.

 

The competition begins in the early spring when entrants provide a synopsis of their proposed paper. Topic selection is not limited; however, it is suggested that entrants select a topic that aligns with one of the preferential subjects for the next CIGRE Paris Session. Given the openness of the topic selection, authors are free to pursue topics they are truly passionate about.

 

The synopses are passed to a panel of judges, who select 10 synopses to advance to the next round. There were a record number of entrants to the paper competition this year, so the judges truly had their work cut out for them. For the 2019 competition, our judging panel consisted of:

 

• John McDonald, GE Grid Solutions
• Mark McVey, Dominion Energy
• Manish Patel, Southern Company
• Alyssa Blumenthal, Con Ed
• Deepak Ramasubramanian, EPRI

 

2019 NGN Paper Competition Top Five Authors with three judges and competition coordinator

 

Authors of the 10 synopses are then given several months to prepare a full paper for review. The judges once again review each paper and the Top Five are selected to advance to the final round of the competition.

 

The Top Five finalists each prepare a presentation based on their papers and present during the NGN Paper Competition session at the CIGRE Grid of the Future Symposium. The 2019 symposium was held on Nov. 4 in Atlanta, Georgia. The finalists were given 20 minutes to present their material and complete a short question and answer session with the judging panel.

 

The Top Five authors in 2019 were:

• Armando Figueroa-Acevedo, MISO: “A Novel Methodology to Quantify the Stack Benefits of HVDC Transmission”
• Derek Kou, Dominion Energy: “Measure the Pulse of the Sun: Dominion Energy’s Data Analytics Approach”
• Sam McCormick, Tagup Inc.: “Using Machine Learning to Quantify the Impact of Weather on Transformer Failure Risk”
• Dongqi Wu, Texas A&M University: “Adaptive Protective Relay Control in Power Distribution Systems”
• Lin Zhu, University of Tennessee-Knoxville: “Forced Oscillation Mitigation Using Battery Energy Storage System: Case Study on El Model”

 

After the five presentations, the judges selected Sam McCormick as winner. He receives a registration and a travel stipend to attend the CIGRE Paris Session, as will the winner of the 2018 competition, Shaun Murphy of PJM.

2019 NGN Paper Competition Top Five Authors

 

From left: David Roop, Sam McCormick and Travis Heintzelman

 

The following are reflections from two of the 2019 finalists as they look back at the benefits they received from the competition.

 

“Despite the long hours put into the presentation, the preparation was rewarding and helped the authors take a deep dive into the issues and see the value of data in solar integration. The feedback from the audience was also positive and encouraging. There is no question that the competition is worthwhile and enjoyable experience.” — Gefei “Derek” Kou

 

“I have learned a lot during the paper competition. It is really important to explain a complex concept in a simple way in the presentation. Also, industry always focuses on real problems and prefers simple solutions. There is a terminology called, ‘Keep it simple, stupid (KISS).’” — Lin Zhu

 

U.S. NGN members look forward to seeing our 2018 and 2019 winners in Paris as well as another exciting year of competition in 2020.

 

Travis Heintzelman is an electrical engineer with Burns & McDonnell and ran the 2019 Paper Competition