Research Team

 

Irina Ciornei is a Marie-Curie Research Fellow at Politehnica University of Bucharest and a previous Post-Doctoral Research Fellow of KIOS Research Center for Intelligent Systems and Networks. Irina holds a BSc (2002) in Power Engineering from the Technical University of Iasi, Romania, a joint MSc (2003) in Energy and Environment, one from the University of Poitiers, France and one from the Technical University of Iasi, and a PhD (2011) in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cyprus, with a thesis entitled “Novel hybrid optimization methods for the solution of the economic dispatch of generation in power systems”. At the last quarter of 2008 she was a visiting researcher at VTT Finland were she carried out a study on wind integration in the Cyprus power grid. In 2013 she visited IBM Smart Cities in Ireland working with the Optimization Research Group on a high-level design for optimal coordinated operation of water and power networks. Her expertise covers a wide range of analytical and heuristic optimization techniques (such as genetic algorithms, ant colony algorithms, particle swarm optimization, simulated annealing, and evolutionary computation) and stochastic optimization solutions with applications in operating systems under uncertainty. Her research interests include low voltage microgrids with a focus on DC microgrids, application of state of the art and novel operation research methods to the optimal operation of critical infrastructures, power system operation and control, RES distributed systems, integration of wind generation into the main power grid (reliability and feasibility), electricity market designs and operations. Irina is a member of IEEE, and a member of the Power and Energy Society. Irina is also the founder and advisor for IEEE Young Professionals of Cyprus.

 

 

Prof. Mihaela Albu the founder of the MicroDERLab Group, is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Department of Electrical Measurements and Instrumentation, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University Politehnica of Bucharest (UPB). She graduated (1987) from the Power Engineering Department of UPB and holds a Ph.D. degree (1998) from the same university. Her research interests encompass wide area measurement systems including synchronized measurements; smart energy grids including optimal use of renewables and real-time control; smart metering technologies; DC and hybrid microgrids; power quality and signal processing for power quality assessment, distributed and computer-controlled measurement systems, IEEE and IEC standards in power, and virtual and Internet-based laboratories. Prof. Albu was elected Vice-Chair of the Intellicis -Working Group 2: Reliable management and control of electric power systems, 2009-2013. The professional service is highlighted by active membership in IEEE -  IMS, CIGRE, VDE, and IRE (Romanian Power Engineers Society). Dr. Albu spent a leave at Arizona State University as a Fulbright Fellow 2002 – 2003 and in 2010. She has been (2010-2013) VP of the IEEE Instr. and Meas. Society and is a member of the IEEE Smart Grid Steering Committee. She has also served (2013-2015) as editor of IEEE Trans. on Power Delivery and of the IEEE Power Systems Letters. Beside theoretical guidance, dr. Albu is versed in experimental work in DC microgrids. Dr. Albu has been advisor in several national and intern. PhD Committees and currently she is senior advisor for a postdoc project funded by EU Regional Funds with a subject in PQ control in LV Microgrids.

 

 

Collaborators for Secondment  

Aalborg University of Technology/Energy Technology Department/Microgrids Group

 

Prof. Josep M. Guerrero is a Full Professor with the Department of Energy Technology, Aalborg University, Denmark where he is responsible for the Microgrid Research Program (www.microgrids.et.aau.dk). From 2012 he is a guest Professor at the Chinese Academy of Science and the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics; from 2014 he is chair Professor in Shandong University; from 2015 he is a distinguished guest Professor in Hunan University; and from 2016 he is a visiting professor fellow at Aston University, UK, and a guest Professor at the Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications. He received the B.S. degree in telecommunications engineering, the M.S. degree in electronics engineering, and the Ph.D. degree in power electronics from the Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona, in 1997, 2000 and 2003, respectively. 

His research interests are oriented to different microgrid aspects, including power electronics, distributed energy-storage systems, hierarchical and cooperative control, energy management systems, smart metering and the internet of things for AC/DC microgrid clusters and islanded minigrids; recently, he also focuses on maritime microgrids for electrical ships, vessels, ferries and seaports. Prof. Guerrero is an Associate Editor for the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, and the IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine, and an Editor for the IEEE TRANSACTIONS on SMART GRID and IEEE TRANSACTIONS on ENERGY CONVERSION. He has been Guest Editor of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS Special Issues: Power Electronics for Wind Energy Conversion and Power Electronics for Microgrids; the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS Special Sections: Uninterruptible Power Supplies systems, Renewable Energy Systems, Distributed Generation and Microgrids, and Industrial Applications and Implementation Issues of the Kalman Filter; the IEEE TRANSACTIONS on SMART GRID Special Issues: Smart DC Distribution Systems and Power Quality in Smart Grids; the IEEE TRANSACTIONS on ENERGY CONVERSION Special Issue on Energy Conversion in Next-generation Electric Ships. He was the chair of the Renewable Energy Systems Technical Committee of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society. He received the best paper award of the IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion for the period 2014-2015, and the best paper prize of IEEE-PES in 2015. As well, he received the best paper award of the Journal of Power Electronics in 2016. In 2014, 2015, and 2016 he was awarded by Thomson Reuters as Highly Cited Researcher, and in 2015 he was elevated as IEEE Fellow for his contributions on “distributed power systems and microgrids.”

 

Assoc. Prof. Juan C. Vasquez received the B.S. degree in electronics engineering from the Autonomous University of Manizales, Manizales, Colombia, and the Ph.D. degree in automatic control, robotics, and computer vision from the Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain, in 2004 and 2009, respectively. He was with the Autonomous University of Manizales working as a teaching assistant and the Technical University of Catalonia as a Post-Doctoral Assistant in 2005 and 2008 respectively. In 2011, he was Assistant Professor and from 2014 he is working as an Associate Professor at the Department of Energy Technology, Aalborg University, Denmark where he is the Vice Programme Leader of the Microgrids Research Program (see microgrids.et.aau.dk). From Feb. 2015 to April. 2015 he was a Visiting Scholar at the Center of Power Electronics Systems (CPES) at Virginia Tech and a visiting professor at Ritsumeikan University, Japan. His current research interests include operation, advanced hierarchical and cooperative control, optimization and energy management applied to distributed generation in AC/DC Microgrids, maritime microgrids, advanced metering infrastructures and the integration of Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems into the SmartGrid. He has more than 100 technical papers only in Microgrids in international IEEE conferences and journals. Dr. Vasquez is currently a member of the IEC System Evaluation Group SEG4 on LVDC Distribution and Safety for use in Developed and Developing Economies, the Renewable Energy Systems Technical Committee TC-RES in IEEE Industrial Electronics, PELS, IAS, and PES Societies.