Webinar: Study of the Protection Improvements for a Weak Grid Area with High Inverter Based Resource

Featured Speakers: Jing Wang, Principal Engineer, National Laboratory of the Rockies; Yaswanth Nag Velaga, Senior Research Engineer, National Laboratory of the Rockies Moderator: Julia Matevosyan, Associate Director, Chief Engineer, ESIG About the Webinar: The National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) collaborates with Florida Power & Light (FPL) and GE to investigate power system stability and protection reliability challenges in a weak-grid region with high penetration of inverter-based resources (IBRs). This presentation will primarily focus on the protection aspects of the study. We will share key insights from this real-world project, including best practices for developing high-fidelity fault study models, establishing a controller-hardware-in-the-loop (CHIL) platform for testing physical relays, identifying system-level protection challenges, and designing enhanced protection schemes to address those issues. Through this discussion, the audience will gain practical understanding of protection studies in IBR-dominated systems, the emerging challenges associated with reduced fault current and altered transient behavior, and effective mitigation strategies. In particular, we will highlight the critical importance of IBR compliance with IEEE 2800-2022 to ensure dependable and secure protection relay operation in modern transmission systems. About the Speakers: Jing Wang is a Principal Engineer in the Energy System Control and Optimization Group within PSEC. She earned her Ph.D. in electrical engineering from RWTH Aachen University in 2015. Between 2015 and 2017, she served as a lead power system engineer at GE Grid Solutions in Stafford, UK, where she spearheaded multiple microgrid automation and HVDC system validation projects. At NLR, she leads several multi-million-dollar projects, delivering significant industry impact. Her research focuses on power electronics control of inverter-based resources (IBRs), power system protection, the co-design of IBR control and power system protection, and hardware-in-the-loop. Yaswanth Nag Velaga is a senior research engineer in the Power Systems Engineering Center at the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), where he focuses on modeling, control, and experimental validation of inverter-based resources—including photovoltaic and battery inverters—as well as controller-hardware-in-the-loop (CHIL) studies for system protection and advanced grid integration.