Author: Dr. Alexandre Pavlovski, P. Eng., President and CEO, Green Power Labs Inc. Published Paper: https://globaljournals.org/GJRE_Volu...
Author: Dr. Alexandre Pavlovski, P. Eng.,
President and CEO, Green Power Labs Inc.
Published Paper:
Social Media Post published in Linkedin:
Alexandre Pavlovski is a professional engineer and applied physicist with over 40 years of expertise in clean energy and clean technology fields. He holds a Master of Science, Applied Physics and a Ph.D., Power Conversion degrees, and diplomas and certificates in Environmental Policy and Innovations Management. Alexandre’s professional experience is focused on smart grids, smart buildings and smart cities applications in low carbon economies. His energy planning expertise includes energy analytics for utilities, municipalities and commercial buildings. His clean technology development and deployment expertise embraces predictive analytics in solar power forecasting, and predictive control of commercial buildings and microgrids.
Alexandre’s career has taken him through several increasingly challenging research, operations and management positions in Industrial Research and Development. Today, he serves as President and CEO of Green Power Labs Inc. Over the course of 20 years at Green Power Labs, Alexandre established a well-known international reputation as a skilled clean energy leader, a cleantech innovator and a community energy security visionary. His contribution to intellectual property of the company includes a comprehensive portfolio of patents he led and co-authored as well as his publications on solar architecture in energy engineering, and the future of power grids.
Alexandre’s interest, enthusiasm, and expertise in clean energy planning and deployment, sustainability and predictive energy management is reflected in a broad range of clean energy and energy efficiency services and technology development projects. Notable service examples for communities include Dalhousie Energy Master Plan, Halifax Regional Municipality Solar City program, and the Bridgewater Energy Poverty Reduction Program. Innovation service examples for utilities include Assessment of Distributed Solar Power Generation for Emera Markets, and Testing and Demonstration of Supervisory Predictive Grid solutions for Toronto Hydro’s Distribution Substations. Eminent technology development examples supported by the Atlantic Innovation Fund, Sustainable Development Technology Canada, and National Research Council include Predictive Control of commercial buildings and microgrids.
Introduction
In early 2000s the scale of clean electricity demand and supply started growing, moving the market, and defining the limits and implications related to access to clean electricity in power grids. A critical step in removing these limits in my mind had a name: Predictive Energy Management (PEM).
I had a vision for clean electricity chain where PEM would be a chief “dispatcher”. This chain started with variable electricity generation plants like solar or wind, proceeded with utilities’ transmission and distribution grids and ended at electricity consumption in commercial, industrial, residential and transportation applications. PEM for this chain seemed to us an efficient “agent”, and it had its “clients”: Smart Power Plants, Smart Grids, Smart Buildings and Smart Cities. In the thinking of market and industry leaders, the Smart Energy concept was growing, and PEM was in the core of it.
Predictive Energy Management had two key components: Predictive Analytics (Information Technology - from planning to operations) and Predictive Controls (Operational Technology - in operations only).
Predictive power analytics encompassed a variety of advanced techniques that analyze current and historical facts to predict future events in power generation, transmission, and distribution, and effectively prepared for impending impacts. With the rapid changes in how electrical power is generated and distributed, the business case for integrating and utilizing predictive power analytics in clean electricity chain had become very compelling.
Predictive power controls applied as an automated operational technology leveraged the value of real time predictive data leading to significant savings in clean electricity operations. It streamlined interconnection of variable power plants with hosting power grids and enabled these power plants to support operating conditions in the grid thus facilitating the smooth deployment of clean power worldwide.
The growing share of solar power and other clean electricity sources, both at utility-scale and distributed generation levels, had made predictive power analytics and predictive controls services and applications critically important for all key clean electricity operations, and my team focused its effort on unleashing clean electricity in existing power grids.
Some areas of my team’s industrial research and demonstration included the following:
- Energy Analytics for Sustainable Buildings and Communities: mapping solar resource and solar power generation potential of communities
- Operational Solar Power Forecasting specifically known for the advanced accuracy of solar forecasts in areas with highly intermittent weather patterns, featuring a hybrid methodology including both physical and artificial intelligence-based models.
- Predictive Grid Control (PGC) for Distribution Substations with Distributed Energy Resources (DER) enabling DER to support operating conditions in the grid. PGC combines best practices in smart inverter control, power distribution control and solar power forecasting technologies.
- Predictive Building Control (PBC) technology designed to manage building energy consumption and optimize energy efficiency. PBC is a software-based technology that finds a balance between the comfort of the people working or living in a building, the optimization of energy cost savings, and the hosting utility’s interest in Automated Demand Response.
- Solar Architecture representing the confluence of the two disciplines of energy engineering and architecture. The concept of Solar Architecture defines a decision-making process to select, design, deploy, and operate solar energy-enabled solutions for environments where solar energy resources are part of the energy mix.
- Integrated Resource Planning with a strong leap to AC/DC grid merge including the deployment of low voltage and medium voltage DC grids, and development and manufacturing of Grid Forming converters to connect to and support AC grids.
My current industrial R&D interests include Renewable Dispatchable Fleets and Supergrid applications in North America and globally.
