UQ partners with power industry for new Chair http://www.uq.edu.au/news/index.html?article=18858 (14 July 2009)

A new partnership between The University of Queensland, the Australian Power Institute (API) and Powerlink Queensland is set to energise the future of the State's power sector.

The initiative will fund a Chair in Electricity Transmission to support the existing research and teaching partnerships between the power industry and UQ.

UQ Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Greenfield welcomed the commitment by API and Powerlink, which will ensure that the industry benefits from both a supply of high quality specialist graduates, and new technologies to improve its sustainability.

“Queensland's energy industry is the second largest in Australia and the fastest growing, and this partnership will enhance its capacity to responsibly address the demands of an expanding market in the face of climate change,” Professor Greenfield said.

The Chair will maintain a close relationship with the Australian and Queensland power industries to remain responsive to the sector's technology development and research needs.

Powerlink Queensland's Chief Operating Officer and current Chair of the API, Simon Bartlett, said that Powerlink and the API recognised the need for senior academic leadership to attract, inspire, and retain the top academics in the field and foster research opportunities in partnership with industry.

“We believe it is imperative for us to take an active role in ensuring our most promising engineering students receive the highest quality education, and that our tertiary education curriculum is keeping pace with the power industry's needs,” he said.

“The establishment of the Australian Chair in Electricity Transmission at the University of Queensland will help us to achieve this goal at a critical time for the industry in Queensland and in Australia as a whole.”

Transmission companies across the country are currently facing an unprecedented demand to develop and refurbish their networks to meet expectations for reliable energy supplies.

Mr Bartlett said the initiative would help the industry address these and future challenges.

“The electricity transmission networks will play a pivotal role in facilitating Australia's response to climate change, meeting the technical and regulatory challenges associated with connecting new lower emissions generators and remote, large scale renewable generators to the national electricity grid,” he said.

“Rising to these challenges requires the power industry and universities to work together to research and investigate new technologies and innovative solutions.”

Researchers from UQ's Power and Energy Systems Research Group are addressing power system operational challenges associated with the deregulation of the electricity market as well as working to incorporate renewable energy in the national electricity grid.

Group leader, Professor Tapan Saha from the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, said the new partnership would equip graduates with the skills required by the power industry.

“Tomorrow's power engineers will need to be trained in specific areas such as power system economics, transmission pricing, congestion management, security of supply, power system dynamics and the integration of renewable energy,” he said.

“The Chair will play a central role in developing and leading teaching and research programs in these areas, as well as collaborating with industry and other universities to ensure that UQ power engineering graduates meet industry requirements.”

The Australian Power Institute is a national energy industry-wide partnership that includes Powerlink Queensland, the Queensland Government owned corporation that owns, develops and maintains the State's high voltage electricity transmission network.

Media: Alice Walker at the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology (07 3346 7696 or a.walker1@uq.edu.au)

 

 

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Premier The Honorable Anna Bligh
Thursday, September 27, 2007
http://statements.cabinet.qld.gov.au/MMS/StatementDisplaySingle.aspx?id=54190
$15M Qld Geothermal Energy Centre a ‘nation-leader’: Bligh

26 September 2007


THE State Government will establish a nation-leading Centre of Excellence to ensure Queensland is best placed to take advantage of the emerging source of ‘hot rocks’ or geothermal energy, Premier Anna Bligh said today.

“Geothermal or ‘hot rocks’ energy has the potential to generate one fifth of Australia’s total electricity needs over the next 25 years without producing any carbon dioxide emissions,” said Ms Bligh.

Geothermal energy is produced from heat generated and captured from deep inside the earth.

The Premier said that the State Government would provide $15 million over the next five years to establish the Queensland Geothermal Energy Centre of Excellence. The University of Queensland will contribute a further $3.3 million for the centre’s establishment.

“This centre will ensure the Smart State leads the nation in developing the skills base and technological know-how to develop large-scale, zero-emission power generation,’’ Ms Bligh said.

“The centre will establish a critical mass of scientific and engineering expertise specialising in geothermal power generation which will help make Queensland a hub for developing this exciting new technology.’’

Queensland has massive geothermal energy resources in the Cooper and Eromanga basins in the State’s South West (see attached map), potentially capable of supplying the entire nation with electricity for the next 6000 years.

“Work by specialist geothermal companies indicates that these resources could generate large amounts of zero emission power.

“However, if the resource is to live up to its potential key challenges remain, such as developing the expertise to reliably drill up to 5km into the earth and transmitting large amounts of power over long distances due to the remoteness of geothermal sites.

“This centre of excellence will put Queensland in the driver’s seat regarding the development of relevant research to help address these issues,’’ she said.

“It will also allow research collaborations on geothermal energy with leading global institutions, such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology.’’

“The University of Queensland will seek to work with the University of Adelaide, the International Energy Agency which runs a cooperative program on geothermal research and technology and other national and overseas institutions with interests in geothermal energy.”

The Government’s $15 million commitment to establish the centre will be funded from the Renewable Energy Fund and the Climate Change Fund established as part of ClimateSmart 2050.

Media contact: Premier’s Office 3224 4500
 

$15M grant the hot ticket to pollution-free energy
http://www.uq.edu.au/news/?article=13053

Published: 25 September 2007
 

Image courtesy of Geodynamics Limited

Harnessing an untapped energy source which has the capacity to power Australia for 6000 years will be the focus of a new centre at The University of Queensland (UQ).
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has announced a $15 million five-year contribution to a new research and development centre for “hot rocks” - the Queensland Geothermal Energy Centre of Excellence.
Welcoming the announcement, UQ Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Paul Greenfield, said it could lead to abundant zero-emission baseload electricity.
 

“Geothermal energy has unique potential in that it creates no greenhouse gas and could be a reliable source of baseload power, so it will satisfy industry, householders and the growing demand for “green” energy,” Professor Greenfield said.
“It will become cost-competitive when the expense of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels is factored in.
“This energy source is often called “hot rocks” because it is based on fractured granites, heated to up to 250°C, which are at least 3km below the Earth's surface,” Professor Greenfield said.

UQ Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor David Siddle, said: “The Cooper and Eromanga Basins beneath Queensland and South Australia are believed to be among the best and hottest in the world, and hold enough water to supply the needs of a hot rocks power plant, without depleting the natural aquifer.” Queensland's geothermal energy resource is equivalent to that needed to supply Australia's current demands for 6000 years.
“In the shorter term, we estimate that 4000MW of geothermal power could be generated by 2030 without any carbon dioxide emissions,” Professor Siddle said.

There would be three main steps to the process:
• Water would be forced downwards through natural rock fractures, where it would be heated and then rise through other fractures to above-ground heat exchangers;
• The heat exchangers would heat a working fluid to drive a turbine-generator set, to produce electricity with no greenhouse emissions;
• Meanwhile, the water which had been thrust to the surface by the hot rocks would be recycled back into the earth to be reheated, forming a closed water circuit.

Professor Greenfield said that the centre of excellence was an investment in research and development, as well as in the expansion of technical expertise.
“We need these investments to make large-scale geothermal power generation a sustainable reality,” he said.
“Ideally geothermal should become part of a mix of energy sources which would include clean coal and gas, and established renewables.”
In addition to the $15 million from the Queensland Government, UQ will provide in-kind contributions valued at $3.28 million over five years and a further $2.05 million will be raised from external sponsors.

The centre will be the biggest of its type in the nation and will make Queensland and Australia a leading technology provider in the growing geothermal energy sector, through research and development. UQ will work with institutions in the USA – where Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will be a partner – and Iceland, as well as relevant Australian collaborators.
Brisbane-based company, Geodynamics Ltd, is one of about 16 companies active in geothermal power generation in Australia. Geodynamics Ltd initiated Australia's first underground heat exchanger in the Cooper Basin in late 2002.

Professor Greenfield said the new centre would not have been possible without expertise provided by UQ researchers including Professor Hal Gurgenci (School of Engineering); Professor Victor Rudolph (School of Engineering); Professor Max Lu (Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology); and Professor Tapan Saha (School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering).

Media inquiries: Fiona Kennedy (07 3365 1088, 0413 380 012   fiona.kennedy@uq.edu.au
 

 

Publication: Australian Financial Review
Pub date: 21-May-2007
Edition: First
Section: Education
Page: 33
 
Power to their own people 
Helene Zampetakis   

After years of struggling to fill vacancies for engineers, Queensland's skills-strapped power generation industry has launched a masters degree tailored to its needs. The state's government-owned power generators - Tarong Energy, Stanwell Corporation and CS Energy - forged an alliance last year with three Queensland universities to develop a program to advance the education of about 100 engineers they employ.

The initiative preceded an audit conducted by the federal Department of Education, Science and Training last year, which found that the industry will face a shortage of 20,000 scientists and engineers within six years. "We're all facing the same pressures and the pool of qualified professional engineers is pretty thin," Tarong's acting general manager of human resources, Neil Trembath, said.

 

"We have been looking at ways to address the skills shortage and accelerate the development of engineering professionals coming into the power generation industry, either as new graduates or experienced engineers new to the industry.

"The development of an industry-specific program is fundamental to that objective”.  The first intake for the degree, developed in collaboration with the University of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology and Central Queensland University, kicked off in February with 12 students. To address its needs, industry has been heavily involved in developing content for the program.

The generators ran a study that identified 47 subject areas that were relevant to their engineers, and these were aggregated to 16 units for the masters of power generation degree. The program is designed to be studied part time and is delivered in intensive blocks, with 40 hours of compulsory study for each course offered over two semesters this year, and eight courses programmed to complete the degree. Students can take units through any of the three participating universities and have them recognised for the degree. The course is primarily designed to train existing engineers from Queensland's three power generators but is also open to the broader industry, such as consultants, and to paraprofessionals, who can study for a graduate diploma or certificate.

Course work will cover subjects such as asset management systems, project delivery and safety issues, while students can choose electives such as applied thermodynamics and industrial power systems. "This is a unique program because the content has been identified by the power generator industry, and they have decided what skills they need to keep people up to date," UQ's representative on the program leaders committee, Tapan Saha, said.

The initiative has struck a chord with industry internationally; power generator representatives visited UQ last September and October, while inquiries have also been made by power generator companies in South-East Asia. 

 

 

http://www.uq.edu.au/news/index.html?article=11558 Published: 05 March 2007

 

Students power ahead with bursaries

Executive Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Physical Sciences and Architecture, Professor Stephen Walker (right) and (from left) Dr Zhao Yang Dong and Professor Paul Bailes (both from the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering) with the power engineering bursary recipients from UQ Seven UQ engineering students will benefit from work experience with the power industry during vacations, thanks to special industry bursaries.

The bursaries, presented by Mines and Energy Minister Geoff Wilson late last year, are an initiative of the Power Engineering Alliance, an industry–university partnership which aims to improve Queensland's access to engineering graduates with power industry skills.

The UQ students Sarah Hiley, Tian Yu Zhang, Brendan Boyd, Tze Hin Yip, David Edwards, Chris James and Benjamin Hall were among 14 Queensland students recently awarded the bursaries to support their studies in power engineering.

"The education of our future engineers is a high priority for the energy industry and for the Queensland Government," said Mines and energy Minister, Geoff Wilson.

"The Power Engineering Alliance and the Power Engineering Bursary scheme stand to strengthen our engineering skill base, strengthen the long-term outlook for our energy industry, and strengthen the academic potential of our next generation of engineers.

"The students receiving bursaries are an example of the up-and-coming talent we need to make Queensland's power industry the best in Australia."

Professor Stephen Walker, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Physical Sciences and Architecture, said the industry-sponsored bursaries reinforced the message to prospective students that excellent employment opportunities existed for power-engineering graduates. "By supporting the development of graduates with specialised power engineering skills, we can recognise the high-quality graduates who might 'best fit' the future requirements of the industry," he said. Powerlink Chief Operating Officer and Chair of the Power Engineering Alliance, Simon Bartlett, said Powerlink was proud to support an initiative that would spark education in engineering.

"Powerlink and our fellow Power Engineering Alliance partners are committed to supporting young people in the pursuit of education and academic excellence. The bursary is a good example of what can be achieved when companies work together to support the community," Mr Bartlett said."We are greatly encouraged by the impact we can have in providing opportunities for our next generation of engineers."

Bursary sponsors – ABB, AREVA, Australian Power Institute, CS Energy, ENERGEX, Ergon Energy, Maunsell Australia, PB Power, Powerlink Queensland, Stanwell Corporation and Tarong Energy – established the program in collaboration with Queensland University of Technology, The University of Queensland and Central Queensland University.

For further information about the bursaries and on how to apply, please contact Professor Tapan Saha in the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering on 3365 3962.

 

 

New degrees power Smart State

 Published: 21 February 2007
 http://www.uq.edu.au/news/index.html?article=11443

Executive Dean of the Faculty of EPSA Professor Stephen Walker (left) and Minister for Mines and Energy the Honourable Geoff Wilson, MP Australia's first postgraduate degrees designed specifically for the Power Generation industry were launched on February 21 at Customs House by the Minister for Mines and Energy, The Honourable Geoff Wilson MP.

The Power Generation Skills Development programs have been designed to enhance the technical competency of professional engineers and those working in para-professional roles and to address the energy demands of a growing population in Queensland and Australia.

The University of Queensland has teamed up with the state's three government-owned power generators – Stanwell, CS Energy and Tarong Energy – and Queensland University of Technology and Central Queensland University to develop and deliver the world-class postgraduate degrees.

Professor Tapan Saha from UQ's School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering said the initiative would help address a shortage of skilled engineers in the field. “The programs fill a critical education need in the industry, and will enable recent engineering graduates, engineers, para-professionals and those interested in entering the industry to rapidly advance their careers,” Professor Saha said.

The programs harness specialist knowledge across the three partner universities, allowing students to undertake courses at each institution depending on their area of interest and expertise. UQ will offer specialist courses in areas such as regulation, compliance and safety, and generator and transformer technology and design.

Head of UQ's School of Engineering Professor Jim Litster said the Power Generation Masters and Graduate Certificate were among a new breed of programs offered at UQ which are an active collaboration between industry and the tertiary sector.

UQ will be offering two Power Generation courses in 2007 – Rotating Machinery in Semester 1 and Generation Technology in Semester 2. Course Coordinator of Rotating Machinery Professor John Simmons said the programs were designed to provide flexible and up-to-date training for those in the power generation industry.

“Modern power station technology presents an exciting challenge because it is at the cutting edge of engineering and is crucial to society,” Professor Simmons said.

Prospective students can find more information at www.powergeneration.edu.au or by contacting any of the partner universities. Students interested in enrolling in the UQ Power Generation programs should contact UQ's School of Engineering or School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering.

Media: Kim Jensen at UQ Engineering (3366 7406 / 3366 9976 or k.jensen@uq.edu.au) or Cameron Pegg at UQ Communications (07 3365 2049, c.pegg@uq.edu.au)

 

 

 

 

http://www.uq.edu.au/epsa/index.html?page=32694&pid=32694

Power Project Aims for Industry Market

13 June 2005
by Charlotte Nash

 

An innovative School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (ITEE) project, led by Professor Tapan Saha, has attracted more than $400,000 in funding to refine and commercialise a product that could save the power industry millions of dollars.

 The project, called 'Innovation in Power System Asset Management', is the result of over ten years research and aims to deliver computer controlled equipment and a software package that improves managing and maintaining high-voltage transformers, worth over a million dollars each.

 "This product will allow industry to manage equipment more efficiently, have increased confidence for when and how to replace equipment and knowledge about the remaining life of equipment," said Professor Saha.  "It will allow good strategic decisions which will ultimately save catastrophic failures and money as well."

 

The project is the successful culmination of a major research project funded by TransGrid in 1999, to investigate the "return voltage technique" for assessing the condition and remaining life of aged transformers.

 "We have now developed two measurement techniques and a simulation tool to solve this problem, and we are at a point that we need to look at the commercialization," said Professor Saha.

 The UQ Vice-Chancellor's Strategic Initiative Funding will provide $420,000 over 3 years, with an additional $90,000 from the EPSA Faculty to refine the research methods into a commercially relevant product. The product, which includes two measurement techniques and computer simulations, feeds information about the condition of a transformer into an expert system that can predict failure or prioritise repairs. 

 

"Our main strength is the computer simulation tool," said Professor Saha.  "If you can find out the condition of the equipment by the developed measurement techniques, then we can give you an expert opinion on how the transformer needs to maintained or replaced.  If you have a very large group of transformers that need to be looked after, then we can even give you the ranking of these transformers to prioritise the work."

 Professor Saha said that initially a virtual company would be created in collaboration with UniQuest with the ultimate aim of a spin-off company and the possibility to extend the application into other areas.

 

"Our main intention will be to make the tools into one system to make it more commercially feasible," he said.  "If someone from industry buys the equipment, we will also provide training, data analysis and professional consulting services."

"And here we are just talking about one type of equipment, transformers, but it can be extended to other areas as well.  For example, we have a large ARC funded linkage project with QUT and Ergon Energy looking at underground cables, which is an extension of this kind of work."

 

As equipment maintenance in the international power industry suffers from similar problems to Australia, the Power System Asset Management project will be relevant to many overseas nations.

 "We see this as a global problem and it is ongoing work," said Professor Saha. "We have been working in collaboration with many large institutions and overseas nations and there isn't anything like our product in the world."

 

Professor Saha said he was gratified to see the project reach this point, and acknowledged the input of many people, including a number of his colleagues, PhD students, research fellows, the School of ITEE, the Department of Chemistry and many industry partners.

 "This project is the continuation of ten years, so a lot of people are involved they have all made the project possible," he said.  "I have been waiting for this to happen for a long time."

 

1999 UQ News Story - "UQ team develops test kit for health and longevity of high-voltage transformers" http://www.uq.edu.au/news/index.phtml?article=1462)

 

 

 

 

Power system security under the spotlight at major conference

Tuesday, 24 August 2004

Power system security will be the topic under the spotlight at the Australasian Universities Power Engineering Conference (AUPEC ‘04).

The School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (ITEE) at The University of Queensland is hosting the major Australasian conference in power engineering from September 26–29.

According to conference General Chair, Associate Professor Tapan Saha from ITEE, the meeting represents a major event for industry professionals as well as academics in power engineering to share recent advances in power-engineering research and development.

“It is particularly relevant given Queensland's current electricity supply debate,” Dr Saha said.

The conference theme is Deregulated Power Industry: Challenges and Opportunities.  Technical presentations will be conducted in four, parallel sessions for three days with attendees from a number of countries, including Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Iran, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Italy, Canada and Austria.

During the conference, leading experts in power engineering will present keynote speeches on a number of major issues faced by the electricity industry. Professor George Gross from the University of Illinois will deliver a keynote speech outlining the security aspects of a complex, interconnected electricity grid with special reference to a recent blackout of the North American electricity grid.

Jeff Harding, Managing Director of Pacific Hydro, will present a keynote speech on renewable energy, in particular on the challenges and opportunities presented by wind energy. Gordon Jardine, CEO of Powerlink, will outline the challenges facing transmission companies in a deregulated market environment.

Energy systems research is an integral part of the Complex and Intelligent Systems Research Group in the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at UQ.

Dr Saha said the group was one of the most successful research groups in power engineering in Australia with projects receiving funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC), the National Electricity Market Management Company (NEMMCO), Powerlink Queensland, TransGrid New South Wales, Transend Tasmania, and South Australia's Electricity Supply Industry Planning Council. Internationally, the power engineering research team had also forged strong research collaborations.