IEEE Electrification Magazine - June 2016 - 2

ABOuT THIS ISSue

Does DC
Distribution
Make Sense?
By Rob Cuzner

RECENTLY READ A LETTER TO THE EDITOR IN AN
IEEE publication in which the statement was made
that "dc is already used where it makes sense; the
same goes for ac." Although this is an argument for maintaining
the status quo of how power is distributed, the fact is that the
number of applications in which dc makes sense is increasingly
growing. The growth in dc microgrids and distribution worldwide is a testament to this fact. A universal concurrence of the
articles in this issue of IEEE Electrification Magazine is that a
widespread adoption of dc distribution is impeded mainly by a
lack of standardization, a lack of experience, and most notably
by insufficient solutions to dc distribution-system protection.
In recent years, the most significant technological developments with regard to dc have been in the area of multiterminal
high-voltage dc (HVdc) distribution. ABB [Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget, Västerås (ASEA), Sweden Brown Boveri,
Zurich, Switzerland] has developed a commercially viable
The fact is that
hybrid HVdc circuit breaker
the number of
that will enable the extension
of offshore wind power from
applications in which
HVdc transmission lines to a
dc makes sense is
terrestrial HVdc distribution
increasingly growing.
network. Voltage source converter (VSC)-based interconnections between offshore
wind farms in the North Sea and Germany are already in place
with planned implementations of multiterminal HVdc distribution across Germany, throughout Central Europe, and into
Northern Africa, as well as China. Embedding dc into the ac grid
will result in a more controllable and precise power exchange
and will enable significant mixing of renewable energy with
regional power sources. On a global scale, the potential is for the
reduction of greenhouse gases, increased energy independence,
and improved resilience of electrical power delivery systems.

I

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MELE.2016.2543978
Date of publication: 31 May 2016

2

IE E E E l e c t r i f i c ati o n M agaz ine / j un e 2016

EDITORIAL BOARD
Iqbal Husain
Editor-in-Chief
North Carolina State
University
North Carolina, USA
ihusain2@ncsu.edu
Eduard Muljadi
Coeditor, Electric Vehicles
NREL: Wind Research
Colorado, USA
eduard.muljadi@nrel.gov
Herb Ginn
Editor, Electric Ships
Universitiy of
South Carolina
South Carolina, USA
ginnhl@cec.sc.edu
Robert Cuzner
Coeditor, Electric Ships
University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Wisconsin, USA
Cuzner@uwm.edu
Eduardo Pilo de la
Fuente
Editor, Electric Trains
EPRail Research
and Consulting
Spain
eduardo.pilo@eprail.com
Jose Conrado Martinez
Coeditor, Electric Trains
Directcion de Estrategia
y Desarrollo
Spain
jcmartinez@adif.es
Bulent Sarlioglu
Editor, Electric Planes
University of
Wisconsin-Madison
Wisconsin, USA
bulent@engr.wisc.edu
Mohammad
Shahidehpour
Editor, Microgrid
Illinois Institute
of Technology
Chicago, USA
ms@iit.edu

Steve Pullins
Coeditor, Microgrid
GridIntellect
Tennessee, USA
steve@gridintellect.com
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Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MELE.2016.2556200



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Electrification Magazine - June 2016

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IEEE Electrification Magazine - June 2016 - Cover2
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