USEA Senior Director Will Polen Launches Power System Modeling Lab In Moldova
Chisinau, Moldova - Yesterday, USEA Senior Director Will Polen helped launch a new USAID laboratory for power system modeling that will be opened at the Technical University of Moldova. The laboratory is equipped with 12 computers provided with an innovative software – DIgSILENT Power Factory – the newest in power system analysis used internationally, designed to calculate and model energy systems. This was possible thanks to the United States Energy Association (USEA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The joint objective of USEA and USAID is to contribute to the strengthening of Moldova’s energy security and reliability by integrating the local electricity networks and markets to the European ones. The integration with the European electricity grid will substantially reduce the capacity of other countries to use energy as a geopolitical tool, and will take Moldova closer to integrating reliable and clean energy.
The new laboratory is dedicated to developing green energy and will provide new study opportunities to the students of the Energetics and Electrical Engineering Faculty (FEIE) at UTM. The DIgSILENT Power Factory software is unique due to its versatile possibilities. Previously, the students were using several programs to make different calculations, often times this could lead to erroneous analysis of the situation, while the new software incorporates all the possibilities and calculations, and, at the same time, it considerably reduces the work load.
This laboratory can allow students and faculty to determine the parameters of electric energy in a network, like: nodal voltage in electric circuits, electricity flow through power lines, active and reactive power flows. At the same time, it allows the analysis of the static and dynamic stability for different power outages, disruptions, and short circuits which can occur in an electric network. Also, based on the modeling created within the software, the protection systems used by power stations can be set.
Previously, the international specialists from DMCC Engineering organized training modules for the teaching staff and students aimed at building their skills in using the software. The training modules will ultimately be used for international certification of the participants.
The laboratory launch event was also attended by the US Ambassador to the Republic of Moldova Kent Doyle Logsdon; the Director of the USAID Mission in Moldova, Scott Hocklander; the Dean of the Energetics and Electrical Engineering Faculty (FEIE) at UTM, Victor Gropa; and the Director of the State company Moldelectrica, Sergiu Aparatu.
The total value of the US investment in opening the USAID Laboratory for Power System Modeling is nearly $30,000 USD. The USEA Energy Technology and Governance Program and USAID support Moldova’s transition to the European power grid. With support from USAID, USEA is conducting projects in Moldova to ensure reliable provision of electricity, to integrate clean and renewable energy, and to strengthen the energy workforce.
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