Prof. A. P. Meliopoulos

Prof. A. P. Meliopoulos introduced dynamic state estimation based protection (setting-less relay) and protection of energy automation systems against cyber attacks. The safety software and smart ground multimeter are utilized by more than 130 utilities, consulting firms and vendors in the US and abroad. He has performed numerous studies and he has published authoritative text books. He has published over 400 technical papers and he has taught over 300 short courses/continuing education programs to practicing engineers (GT Continuing Education and IEEE) in addition to teaching regular classes at Georgia Tech. He has consulted with most major utilities in the US and abroad. Some specifics are provided below.

Instruction:  He has contributed to the development of the power program at Georgia Tech and has been teaching the courses of this technical area since 1976.  He provided leadership towards the semester conversion of the power program.  He has developed two new courses (Electric Power Quality and Real Time Control of Power Systems) which have become part of the GT program, enhanced and modernized existing power courses, developed the manual for the senior laboratory and developed a series of interactive instructional computer programs covering a wide spectrum of power system engineering problems.  He initiated new teaching procedures using instructional software long before the introduction of the personal computer and multimedia technology.  He continued this work towards the Virtual Power System, a multitasking instructional system with animation and visualization capability that is used in several courses. He has developed the power system certificate program for practicing utility engineers which consists of eight short courses covering all aspects of design and control of power systems. This program presently generates net revenue for Georgia Tech in excess of 300,000 dollars per annum. He organized and taught multiple IEEE sponsored short courses.  He leads two Georgia Tech conferences: (a) Protective Relaying Conference and (b) Fault and Disturbance Analysis.  He is the author of three books ((1) A. P. Meliopoulos, Problems and Concise Theory of High Voltage Structures (in Greek), B. H. Sellountos Publishing Company, Athens, Greece, 100 pages, 1972, (2) A. P. Meliopoulos, Power System Grounding and Transients:  An Introduction, Marcel Dekker, New York, New York, 450 pages, June 1988, (3) M. Kezunovic, S. Meliopoulos, V. Venkatasubramanian, and V. Vittal, Application of Time-synchronized Measurements in Power System Transmission Networks, Springer International Publishing AG, 2014) and contributed a chapter (97 pages) to the handbook for Electrical Engineers. He has also developed three manuscripts that are used as textbooks in three respective power system courses: (a) Power System Modeling, Control and Operation, 1013 pages, (b) Electric Power Quality, with G. J. Cokkinides, 635 pages, and (c) Power System Relaying: Theory and Applications, with G. J. Cokkinides, 987 pages. The last is in the process of being published.

Research:  He has performed numerous research projects covering all aspects of power system modeling design and control and sponsored by NSF, ONR, DoE and numerous power utilities, Westinghouse, Georgia Power Co, ESEERCO, NYPA, ENTERGY, TVA, METC, SCS, EPRI, NYSERDA, RTE and others. He has made significant contributions to power systems, power electronics and utilization and control of distributed generation and renewables. Some specific areas are: (a) development of bulk power system reliability analysis methods, (b) development of design methods to maximize safety of electric power installations (grounding system analysis and design, electromagnetic field analysis, power quality and power system protection), (c) model based monitoring of harmonics with advanced technologies based on GPS synchronization (specifically, during the years 1993-98, he developed the Macrodyne based GPS-synchronized harmonic state measurement system for transmission systems – with Dr. Cokkinides), (d) high fidelity modeling analysis, control and protection of the integrated power grid and power electronic building blocks (PEBB) including distributed generation and renewables, (e) the setting-less protective relay under EPRI and NYSERDA sponsorship, (f) centralized substation protection, (g) dynamic bus analysis and design, and (h) application of new technologies for simulation visualization and animation of complex systems.  Several of his research results have been commercialized, such as the Smart Ground Multimeter, the GPS-synchronized Harmonic Measurement System, and Fault Distance Indicator, the Substation Grounding Workstation, and the Integrated Grounding System Design (WinIGS).  The program WinIGS and the Smart Ground Multimeter is presently used by over 120 major utilities, manufacturers and consulting firms in the US and abroad. Prof. Meliopoulos is recognized as an expert in electric power system protection, control, safety, grounding, and precision measurements for advanced monitoring and prognosis of power systems.  For his research achievements he has been elected Fellow of the IEEE in 1993. In addition he has received the IEEE-IAS Society Field Award in 2005 (IEEE-IAS Richard Kaufman award) and the 2010 George Montefiore Institute Award (Belgium).

In his most recent research activities, he has introduced new approaches for modeling large scale power grids based on quadratization and the utilization of this approach to a variety of protection, control and optimization of the future power system integrated with distributed generation, renewable energy sources and power electronic subsystems and interfaces. He has introduced the concept of the supercalibrator, a new approach that enables fully distributed state estimation and root cause disturbance analysis, (this technology is expected to make a huge impact on the way we presently monitor and control the power grid – presently Prof. Meliopoulos leads four field demonstration projects on four different utilities: USVI-WAPA, NYPA, Southern Company and PG&E). He has applied the quadratized approach for high fidelity analysis, stability and control of integrated systems consisting of the power grid and power electronics interfaced distributed generation and renewables (the model). He is the inventor of the “settingless” protection method and presently leads an effort to integrate the setting-less protection into a centralized substation protection utilizing recent technologies of merging units and GPS-synchronized measurements. This technology is resently in field demonstration on the NYPA system under a NYSERDA sponsored project and on the RTE system (France) under an RTE sponsored project.

He has developed a state of the art synchrophasor laboratory with multiple capabilities: (a) characterization of PMUs (Phasor Measurement Units), (b) testing of PDCs (Phasor Data Concentrators), (c) autonomous monitoring and control using GPS-synchronized measurements, (d) hardware in the loop testing of protective functions that require GPS synchronization, and (e) hardware in the loop testing of cyber physical security of electric energy systems.

Prof. Meliopoulos has graduated 38 Ph.D. students, 10 M.S. students with the thesis option, and numerous other master’s students without the thesis option. His students have ascended to leadership positions in universities (University of West Virginia; Aristotelian University, Thessaloniki, Greece; University of Georgia; ShangaiTech; and University of Denver); joined leading energy companies of the world, including ABB, EPRI, GE, NYPA, Southern Company, ERCOT, Apple; and joined National Labs such as Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory. One of his students started a now thriving company that develops software for smart grid markets, known as ECCO International.

Prof. Meliopoulos has been active as an Industry Consultant.  He is actively involved in leadership positions within IEEE and he is participating in several IEEE working groups.  He is one of the founders of the International Conference on Harmonics and Power Quality.  He served (2003-2004) as the Chairman of the IEEE/PES Substations Committee. He has intitiated working groups in IEEE and CIGRE on centralized substation protection and the digital substation. He is an expert on reliability analysis of electric power systems, grounding, safety and lightning protection. He is involved in many grounding and safety assessment of major electrical installations for a large number of utilities. In addition, he is exploiting the use of advanced technologies (GPS synchronized measurements) for improved protection, control and operation procedures of large electric systems.

CURRENT FIELDS OF INTEREST

Design, simulation and protection of the integrated power grid of the future with distributed generation, renewables connected to the grid via power electronic interfaces and customer owned resources (smart appliances, EVs, PVs, etc.). Smart Grid Technologies and autonomous operation and optimization of power systems. GPS-synchronized precision measurements, applications of robust state estimation for resilient protection and cyber secure operation, and stability monitoring and prediction (prognosis). Coordination and implications of distributed energy resources and renewables on fuel utilization and economics of power systems. Power system ElectroMagnetic compatibility, grounding, and safety. Visualization and animation methods for large power systems.