Power Demand and Job Opportunities

 

The inventions mentioned in the previous article didn't just happen, there was a need for such devices by other technologies. One such was the invention of the Motor. Running Motor on fuels was harmful for the environment and Electric Motors in their early days were not as efficient as they are now. The success behind the Electric Motor was only possible due to Power Electronics which reduced Power loss significantly. Power electronics made it possible for efficiently controlling the speed of Motor. Today every industry whether it is an automobile or some manufacturing, where they use electric motors, power electronics is always required.

Storing of energy in Batteries or Superconducting Storage require power electronics for conversion and manipulation of different electrical parameters. Power Devices are available in the market to work at a few small (kWs) to very large levels (hundreds of MWs). With the emergence of Electric Vehicles, need for batteries has increased which leads to an increase in demand for Power Electronics.

Electrical Energy generated at Power Plants needs to be transmitted all across the city, and as we know that transmission of DC power is not feasible as it has great loss. Thus transmission is done in AC mode. For the same we have High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) and Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) technologies. HVDC enables interconnection of two ac systems that have; 

1. different nominal frequencies. 
2. same nominal frequency but different power system controls. 
3. same nominal frequencies and control but excessive variations in phase angles. 
4. long distance overhead transmission (greater than 1000 km), underground transmission (greater than 100 km), and submarine transmission (greater than 50 km). 

There are a large number of HVDC projects in operation, but due to the high cost of converter stations, the scope of HVDC is and will remain limited. All of the HVDC projects are now based on thyristors without gate turn off capability and there is a future prospect of HVDC involving GTO based converters. The size of HVDC converters may range from several tens of MWs to a few thousands of MWs. 

Flexible AC Transmission Technology provides for the high speed and precise control of one or more ac system parameters with synchronous ac systems, thereby greatly enhancing the value of ac transmission assets. These parameters include voltages, impedance, phase angle, current, reactive power, and active power. Because, in principle, the cost of FACTS technology will be 10 to 30 % compared to the HVDC technology for the same throughput power, it is a preferred choice where the frequency variation is not an issue or the distance is not very long. In fact, FACTS technology opens up a new market which is not viable for HVDC. 

Many FACT controllers are available in the market and can be used depending on the different parameters required to enhance the value of specific transmission lines. The Controllers include; Thyristor Controlled Series Capacitor, Thyristor Controlled Series Reactor, Thyristor Switched Series Capacitor, Thyristor Switched Series Reactor, Static Synchronous Generator, Static Synchronous Compensator, Static Synchronous Series Compensation, Unified Power Flow Controller, Interphase Power Controller, Static Var Compensator, Static Var Generator, Thyristor Controlled Voltage Limiter, Thyristor Controlled Braking Resistor, etc.. 

Power Electronics are also found in the day to day electronics which we have access to,  the home inverter, vacuum cleaner, air conditioners, induction cooking, etc. Today we focus more on extracting and harnessing every bit of energy which we can with minimal loss and thus humans are more bending towards renewable energy, Power Electronics is also developing and experimenting with different more reliable materials other than Silicon. With the growth of renewable energy, Silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) are particularly well-suited for power electronics use and thus a lot of research work is going on in this field. With the advent of 5G, there will be a lot of growth in power storage, data centers, etc. which means more demand for power. Not only energy efficiency but complexity and reducing the size of devices is a must.

Power Electronics demand is tremendous and will keep increasing a lot in future, and to fulfill such demands we require Engineers in these fields who are knowledgeable in these fields. There are companies which work dedicatedly in the field of Power electronics, some of them are Infineon Semiconductors, ON Semiconductors, STMicroelectronics, NXP Semiconductors, etc. A Power Electronics Engineer should be an expert in advanced semiconductor electronics, and also have a good understanding of Electromagnetic Effects which occur in circuits.