Events Calendar

Epstein ISE Department Seminar

Speaker: Carlos Abad, PhD Candidate, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research Department, Columbia University

Talk Title: Efficient Management of Energy Resources

Abstract: One of the greatest challenges for humanity in the 21st century is to provide adequate energy to allow everyone on the planet to live decent lives, while managing the impact of a rising population and the decline in fossil fuels. In this talk, we will discuss two problems that arise in this context. The first one is faced by electric utilities in the US that use demand response (DR) to handle the supply-demand mismatch. Many DR programs are managed using automated DR devices (ADRs) that, upon receiving a signal from the utility, trigger strategies to reduce the consumption of customers. Most ADRs are one-way communication only; hence, the utility cannot know whether an ADR is reacting to its signal, and is forced to send repairmen periodically. We propose a method that infers the ADR state from meter readings, and uses the estimates to schedule the ADR maintenance near optimally, which results in cost savings of up to 80% with respect to the current practice. The second problem is faced by utilities providing power to isolated communities in sub-Saharan countries. Currently, these utilities use a very simple control. Based on the appliances in their household, customers are assigned individual power limits. In order to protect the micro-grid's power inverter, whenever a household consumption exceeds the assigned power limit, its electricity supply is interrupted. As overall usage can surpass the inverter capacity leading to a shutdown of the entire system, the operator faces a trade-off between revenue and reliability. We propose a robust optimization approach to the problem of dynamically assigning power limits to maximize the utility's revenue. Using the robust control policy can lead to as much as a 100% increase in revenue without sacrificing reliability. This is joint work with Garud Iyengar and Vijay Modi.


Biography: Carlos Abad is a PhD candidate in the Industrial Engineering and Operations Research department at Columbia University. His work is focused on developing computational tools for effectively managing energy resources to achieve two goals: sustainability and reliability. Specifically, he is interested in designing algorithms that allow small residential loads participating in demand management programs to be effectively utilized at the grid level, and methods that allow some of the poorest people in the world to have access to a reliable source of energy at a reasonable price.

Host: Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

More Information: SEMINAR-Abad.doc

Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 206

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Georgia Lum