1

Abstract-- Green Electric Energy Park at Curtin University

will be a state of the art renewable energy systems integration laboratory. It is designed such that the characteristics of each renewable energy source such as solar photovoltaic arrays, wind turbines, micro-hydro turbines and fuel cell stacks can be measured digitally, displayed and analysed on workstation computers and central displays when they are supplying power to isolated dc or ac loads, charging batteries, connected to the main grid or operating as an isolated micro-grid. Weather conditions and all system variables such as voltage and current at all the nodes of the electrical network are measured and made available through the local area network and over the internet for students to analyze at the laboratory classes and also to display graphically in lecture theatres. All the feeds from renewable energy sources and network operating conditions are also made available to research stations where new ways of combining, controlling and converting renewable energy sources will be experimented. This paper briefly describes the need of the facility, the concept of design, laboratory classes made possible and the challenges faced in implementing the project.

Index Terms—Batteries, Energy storage, Fuel cells, Hybrid power systems, Hydrogen storage, Microhydro power, Photovoltaic systems, Power engineering education, Student experiments, Turbines, Wind power generation.

I. INTRODUCTION he rising cost of fossil fuels and the increasing awareness of general public of the adverse climate changes resulting from the burning of fossil fuels have driven the entire

world towards increased power generation using renewable energy sources. Together with the growth in renewable energy industry, more and more engineering graduates are finding employment opportunities in this field. Consequently, universities find obliged to provide engineering undergraduates and postgraduates with necessary teaching and develop high level skills in designing and maintaining such systems. In educating engineering students in such a practical field of study, the exposure to the state of the art real world systems for experiments and research projects is the most guaranteed way of achieving the objectives.

Financial support for the project provided by Curtin University, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Curtin IT Services and Australian Power Institute is gratefully acknowledged.

S. Rajakaruna (e-mail:s.rajakaruna@curtin.edu.au) and S.Islam (e-mail:s.ilam@curtin.edu.au) are with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia.

Despite the growing need of high quality teaching with state of the art laboratories in renewable energy, most universities still strive to set them in place due to a number of challenges. Firstly, funding mechanisms in universities usually do not recognise any increasing trends until the enrolments are at a high enough level. In another words, it means renewable energy education suffers from insufficient funding until the student enrolments increase to much higher levels. However, student enrolment is normally dependent on the employment opportunities. As such, the industry needs to grow to a much larger scale for sufficient funding to be realized. Secondly, unlike many other laboratories, renewable energy laboratories are extremely expensive due to their large size, high complexity and infancy in commercialization and technical development. In most cases, installation of such systems is a multi-disciplinary task that needs services from civil, mechanical, electrical, chemical, electronic, computer and telecommunication engineers. Furthermore, finding suitably large enough space with adequate clearance from other buildings, trees etc. that block sun and wind, meeting safety and noise standards and sourcing suitably qualified designers, suppliers and installers are proving to be quite challenging in most scenarios. Despite all such numerous challenges, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of Curtin University in Western Australia has risen above all of them and is currently in the phase of procurement and installation of ‘Green Electric Energy Park’ (GEEP), a state of the art laboratory in renewable electric energy generation. Considering the value of this experience to other universities in a need to establish such a laboratory, the paper describes many facets of the successful story of GEEP. Firstly, in section II, the paper discusses the background of renewable energy education at the department. The details of the site allocated to this laboratory are presented in section III prior to presenting the design of GEEP in section IV. Acoustic noise of wind turbines and the problems associated are discussed in section V. A sample of possible vast number of laboratory classes and research projects is then listed in section VI. Finally, conclusions derived and future directions are discussed in section VII.

II. BACKGROUND

A. Teaching and Research Activities Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at

Curtin University offers two full units in Renewable Energy. The first of the two units named ‘Renewable Energy

Building a State of the Art Laboratory for Teaching and Research in Renewable Electric

Energy Systems and Microgrids Sumedha Rajakaruna, Senior Member, IEEE and Syed Islam, Senior Member, IEEE

T

978-1-4577-1002-5/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE

2

Principles’ is offered at third year undergraduate level. It introduces the characteristics of original source of energy, principle of operation of energy conversion device that converts original form of energy into electricity and a brief introduction of how such generated electricity can be conditioned and controlled in delivering a regulated reliable power supply. Reflecting the current state of technology, three types of renewable energy sources, namely solar, wind and micro-hydro are introduced in this unit. Furthermore, considering future potential for development of hydrogen based technologies in energy storage, distributed generation and transportation, fuel cells is introduced as the fourth main topic. The enrolment figure varies from year to year approximately averaging 80. As per Curtin Engineering policies, laboratory classes are essential in all the units. Current facilities in the laboratories permits conducting 4 hardware experiments and 2 software simulations, all in solar PV and one hardware experiment on a commercial fuel cell system. The second of the two units on renewable energy is ‘Renewable Energy Systems’, an optional unit for undergraduates in both Power Engineering and Mechatronic Engineering. This units focuses on how power systems can be designed, controlled and implemented based on one or more renewable energy sources. Thus, it focuses on integration of system components and control. It also introduces the concepts on energy storage, distributed generation and microgrids. The average enrolment in the unit offered only at Bentley campus is approximately 60 students. No practical renewable energy systems in any of the four main topics are available for experiments in both units. Apart from the two units taught, a large number of research projects are conducted continuously at the department in the broad field of renewable energy. With nearly 60 final year students in Power Engineering, about 15 Masters by coursework students in Renewable Electric Power Systems and about 10 Masters by coursework students conducting research projects in renewable energy and about 15 higher degree by research students leading to MPhil and PhD supervised by three full professors, and four other senior academic staff specialized in renewable energy and power engineering in general, department boasts as a hub of renewable energy based power engineering research in Australia and the region. Due to limited resources available, only a small percentage of hardware based projects are carried out currently at the department while some others are conducted at industrial facilities and external laboratories. Thus, providing state of the art facilities in renewable energy for this large research community and the growing student cohort in taught units has become vital for sustaining and further enhancing the reputation of the department among students, industry and general public.

B. Design Objectives The laboratory was needed to be designed such that it achieves the following objectives.

1. The facility while primarily is aimed for teaching purposes should also satisfy the demand of high-quality research projects.

2. The laboratory needed to be designed such that maximum number of experiments can be performed independently from each other.

3. The laboratory should facilitate experiments on solar photovoltaic arrays, wind turbines, micro-hydro and fuel cells as the main sources of renewable energy.

4. The design needs to be such that characteristics of each renewable energy source, power converters and controllers can be tested independently.

5. The design should allow renewable energy sources to be connected to isolated variable load banks, batteries, pumps etc. in addition to providing grid-connection.

6. The design also needed to form an isolated ac micro grid to which each of the renewable energy sources could be connected.

7. Provision of a dc grid to which selected renewable energy sources can be connected.

8. Completely digitized monitoring system for all system variables and weather condition such that all laboratory classes can be performed based on a workstation computers without using any other measuring tools.

9. A central display at the presentation area of the laboratory and transmission of system data over the internet so that they can be used in lecture theatres.

III. AVAILABLE SITE The selection of a suitable site is fundamental to the successful operation of a renewable energy laboratory. It not only needs a building as for all the other laboratories but also needs the usage of a substantial area surrounding the building. To ensure solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays are not shadowed during daytime and wind turbine get sufficient unobstructed wind, the site also needs to be away from other tall buildings and trees. Furthermore to meet the acoustic standards, wind turbines need to be sufficiently far away from any residents nearby the facility. On the other hand, the site needs a solid soil condition and good road access so that heavy equipment can be transported and installed without complications. All these requirements usually mean it is hard to find a suitable site for a renewable energy laboratory in a suburban campus where space is limited. The project was delayed by nearly two years due to this reason of inability to allocate a proper site at the Bentley campus. The site allocated for GEEP is depicted in Figure 1. The allocated site in Fig. 1 is remote from the central academic and administrative buildings of the campus and is adjacent to one of the major access roads of the campus, i.e. Manning Road. As such the proposed laboratory would have little impact on the main student or staff body of the campus. It has more than sufficient bare land with no facilities. Most importantly it also has a 12mx12m metal sheet walled building, of which ¾ of separated area is available for the use of GEEP. The building also has almost no facilities except for electricity and a gravel road for access. The closest other building where people reside are the student housing complex ‘Japan House’ and private houses beyond Manning Road. Thus the site and the building needed to be substantially developed before it could become the venue of GEEP. In addition to civil works needed to upgrade the building to an acceptable standard, following services were also provided.

3

• 3-phase power cable to handle 40 kW of power. • Fiber optic cable for data transfer with Curtin IT Services • Water supply • Fire safety • Building and field area lights • Security cameras • Car park with 20 parking bays • Paving around the building and hard stand at field area • Cable trenches and pits for power and data from field

area to the building.

Fig. 1. Map of the area and building allocated for the GEEP laboratory in Bentley campus.

IV. LABORATORY DESIGN

A. System Overview In order to provide the maximum exposure to the present day renewable energy conversion systems, three types of solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays, three types of wind turbines, a micro-hydro station and a hydrogen fuel cell stack were selected. The power ratings of the selected sources were such that they are typical of practical systems available in the market. Mindful of the fact that any increased power rating of the renewable energy source has a cascading effect on the area as well as costs of all the civil installations, power converters, switch gears, cables and energy storages, attempt was always made to keep the power ratings at lower end of the available ranges. Table I provides the specifications of the selected renewable energy sources.

TABLE I SPECIFICATIONS OF SELECTED RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES

TYPE SPECIFICATIONS Monocrystalline PV Array 8x(175W, 36V) PV modules on 1-axis

tracker Polycrystalline PV Array 8x(170W,35V) PV modules on 1-axis

tracker Amorphous-Silicon PV Array 6x(60W,67V) PV module on 1-axis

tracker Vertical Axis Wind Generator 1kW PMSG Hor. Axis PMSG Wind Generator 2.5 kW PMSG Hor. Axis SEIG Wind Generator 5 kW SEIG Micro-Hydro Generator Single-jet impulse turbine, 0.8kW,

230V, 1Phase ind.gen. Fuel Cell Power Plant 1.2kW, 26V PEMFC; 2.4kW, 400L/h

water electrolyser

An overview of the technical design of the GEEP is presented in Fig. 2. For the demonstration of the islanded and grid-connected operations of a renewable energy based microgrid, a 3-phase, 400V, 15 kW microgrid is formed by using 3 of 1-phase, 240V, 5 kW stand-alone inverters based on a central battery bank. Only two of the phases are shown in Fig. 2. On each of the 3 phases of the microgrid, a programmable resistive 5 kW load bank is made available to simulate consumer loads. The operation of the microgrid is demonstrated at one teaching station. There is a separate teaching station for each of the renewable energy source. The exception is polycrystalline PV array and the micro-hydro station as they are combined to demonstrate solar water pumping as well as micro-hydro. In general, renewable energy sources can be connected to one of the 3 phases of utility grid, one of the 3-phases of the micro grid, 48V dc bus of the central battery bank, local variable dc/ac load banks and local battery banks, allowing designing experiments for all possible operating conditions encountered in practice.

Fig. 2. Overview of electrical network in GEEP.

B. Internal Layout of the Laboratory While designing the internal layout of the GEEP laboratory following main factors were taken into account.

1. The need to have one teaching work station for each type of renewable energy source where a desktop computer is used for measuring, recording, plotting and printing of experimental data.

2. The makeshift nature of the building and the possibility of end of lease of the site.

3. The need to facilitate research projects at research stations whenever a renewable energy source is not used for teaching or presentation purposes.

4. The need to have a presentation area with a large LCD display.

5. The allocation of desk space for students, teaching staff, technical staff, researchers and presenters.

6. The need to separate building power supply from power generated at the park for easy monitoring, installation and diagnosing of faults.

Considering the above requirements, the designed internal layout of the laboratory is illustrated in Fig. 3. As can be seen in Fig. 2, 8 teaching stations, 4 research stations, 1 staff area, 1 presentation area have been allocated. The dimensions of the tables were decided based on the dimensions of the building. Since micro-hydro station and solar water pumping are

4

demonstrated by the same system, only one workstation is allocated for both polycrystalline PV array and the micro-hydro power plant. Furthermore, one workstation has been allocated for a 3-phase micro-grid formation using battery bank and stand-alone inverters. At each teaching station, all the switch gear, converters, data acquisition devices etc. needed for the experiments of the particular renewable energy source are vertically mounted on a suitably sized board fixed to two rails running around the walls of the laboratory. Only connections from the wall-mounted board to the workstation desk are to provide power and data to the desktop computer. A conscious decision was made to use portable desks instead of table tops fixed to the walls due to the facts that they provide more flexibility in layout and more access to the wall-mounted workstation switchboards. The access to the wall-mounted workstation board is expected to be further limited by the use of other bulky equipment such as load banks and batteries. In order to provide general building power and data, a cable tray runs around the laboratory just under the desktop height. One other cable tray at the top of wall-mounted workstation board brings the power generated by renewable energy sources for experimentation. Finally, a third cable tray just under the wall-mounted workstation board brings in the cables to which renewable energy sources would be connected. A main switchboard is provided for the lab to provide connection to the 3-phase utility grid, to distribute general building power and to provide 3-phase grid for grid –connected operation of renewable energy sources. The cables from various renewable energy sources on the field area end at the field switch board from where connections are provided to connect them to teaching and research stations.

Fig. 3. Internal layout of GEEP Laboratory.

C. External Layout The field area of GEEP was designed to install three 1-axis tracking PV arrays, three wind turbines, micro-hydro and solar water pumping station, weather monitoring station, hydrogen

storage area and area for storage of central battery bank and programmable load banks of the micro-grid. Fig. 4 illustrates the areas allocated for each of these installations. Cable trenches and pits in the field area are designed such that both data and power can be transferred from each renewable energy source and provisions are kept for future expansion. There are two hydrogen storages, one attached to the building for larger volumes of hydrogen expected in future and a smaller storage away from the building for current needs. The micro-hydro and solar water pumping station where experiments would need moving between external and internal equipment is purposely kept closest to the entrance to the building to reduce the disturbance to other stations. Due to the same reason, the fuel cell station was also placed in the laboratory next to the hydrogen storage area. The workstation on micro-grid needs a large battery energy storage and a programmable load bank which occupy a considerably large space. Furthermore, about 15kW heat generated from the local and central load banks within a small area mean that much of the load banks needed to be housed outside of the laboratory. These are housed in weather-proof enclosures on the back side of the building right next to its internal workstation.

V. ACOUSTIC ISSUES One of the biggest challenges faced by the designers of the laboratory was regarding the acoustic noise emitted by three wind turbines. Table II presents the noise levels of three selected wind turbines at different wind speeds. As can be seen in Table II, the biggest noise producer is the 5kW horizontal-axis IG Wind turbine. Next comes the 2.5kW horizontal axis wind turbine and then the 1 kW vertical axis wind turbine.

Fig. 4. External layout of GEEP field equipment. Due to the concerns raised by student housing complex closest to the GEEP field area, an acoustic analysis was carried out to ascertain whether the proposed installations meet acoustic standards at nearby Japan House and at Waterford residences

A- Monocrystalline PVA; B-Polycrystalline PVA; C-a-Silicon PVA; D-Vertical Axis Wind Turbine; E- Hor. Axis PMSG Wind Turbine; F- Hor. Axis IG Wind Turbine; G-Micro-Hydro and Solar Water Pumping; H- Hydrogen Storage; I-Battery and Load Bank Storage; J- Weather Monitoring Station

A

B

C

D

E F

G H H

I

J

5

across the Manning Road given in Fig. 1. As a result, noise levels of 5 kW wind turbine was found to be well above the acceptable limits under operating conditions. Furthermore, noise level of 2.5 kW turbine needed to be reduced by moving it away from the originally proposed location of D to the currently selected location of E in Fig. 4 to increase the distance to the Japan House.

TABLE II

SPECIFIED NOISE LEVELS OF WIND TURBINES SELECTED FOR GEEP

Furthermore, the noise levels are not acceptable if the wind speed increases beyond 12 m/s during night times and holidays. Therefore, wind turbine controller needs to be adjusted so that it would apply brakes when the wind speed increases beyond 12 m/s. The vertical axis wind turbine complies with noise standards at the proposed location at all wind speeds and during all times. The final arrangement is to use the 2.5kW wind turbine and 1kW vertical axis wind turbine at the locations indicated in Fig. 3 and to allocate the footings and internal lab space for future selection and installation of an induction generator based wind turbine that can meet the noise levels of the 1 kW vertical axis wind turbine. With these modifications, the noise plot of the surrounding area shows the necessary noise standards of both residential areas have been met.

VI. POTENTIAL BENEFITS

A. Teaching Laboratory Classes The designed laboratory is capable of offering a vast array of experiments to students learning renewable energy at Curtin university. Some of the possible laboratories at each teaching station are grouped and listed in Table III to give a glimpse of possibilities. All the laboratory classes will be computer based as all the system variables are measured digitally.

TABLE III GROUPS OF POSSIBLE LABORATORY CLASSES AT TEACHING STATIONS

TS NO.

MAIN TOPIC SUB TOPICS

1 Polycrystalline PV Array and Micro-hydro

• Measurement of electrical characteristics of parallel and series connected polycrystalline PV modules under shaded and unshaded conditions

• Effects of 1-axis, 2-axis tracking vs. fixed arrays

• Grid-feeding of PV power • Battery charging using PV arrays • PV arrays in micro grids • Solar water pumping • Stand-alone induction generator

micro-hydro stations • Grid-connected induction generator

micro-hydro station

2 Monocrystalline PV Array

• Measurement of electrical characteristics of parallel and series connected monocrystalline PV modules under shaded and unshaded conditions

• Effects of 1-axis, 2-axis tracking vs. fixed arrays

• Grid-feeding of PV power • Battery charging using PV arrays • Off-grid ac supply using PV Arrays • PV arrays in micro grids

3 Amorphous-Silicon PV Array

• Measurement of electrical characteristics of parallel and series connected monocrystalline PV modules under shaded and unshaded conditions

• Effects of 1-axis, 2-axis tracking vs. fixed arrays

• Grid-feeding of PV power • Battery charging using PV arrays • Comparison of characteristics of

different PV types of PV cells • dc bus vs. ac bus for feeding PV

power in a microgrid

4 Fuel Cell Power Plant • Assembling a small fuel cell power plant

• Generation of hydrogen using water electrolyser

• Hydrogen storage, compressed cylinders vs. metal hydride canisters

• Study of commercial PEM Fuel Cell power plant

• Electrical characteristics of Fuel Cells

• Stand-alone dc or ac supply using fuel cells

• Grid-feeding of fuel cell power 5 Vertical Axis Wind

Turbine(VAWT) • Power characteristics of VAWT • Electrical characteristics of PMSG

generators • Grid-feeding of VAWT

6 Micro Grid • Formation of a 3-phase microgrid using 1-phase inverters backed by battery banks

• Islanded operation and power frequency control of microgrids

• Role of energy storages in a renewable energy based microgrid

• Grid-connected operation and changeover to islanding in microgrids

• Design and operation of programmable load banks

• Data acquisition, transmission and digital display in a microgrid

• Acquisition and analysis of weather data

• Smart metering in microgrids 7 Hor. Axis Wind Turbine

(HAWT) with PMSG Generator

• Power characteristics of HAWT • Electrical characteristics of PMSG

generators • Grid-feeding of HAWT • Accoustic noise characteristics of

wind turbines • Comparison of VAWT vs. HAWT

8 Hor. Axis Wind Turbine with Induction Generator

• Electrical characteristics and control of DFIG generator wind energy conversion systems

• Electrical characteristics and control of SEIG generator wind energy conversion systems

TURBINE HEIGHT(M) WIND SPEED(M/S)

NOISE LEVEL DB(A)

5KW HOR. AXIS IG WIND TURBINE

18 5 10

83 98

2.5KW HOR. AXIS PMSG WIND TURBINE

11 5 20

40 60

1KW VERTICAL AXIS WIND TURBINE

14 <7 7-10 >10

38 42 47

6

• Power characteristics of HAWT • Accoustic noise characteristics of

wind turbines The design of the laboratory is such that there are emergency stop buttons on each of the four walls so that both field power as well as grid power is cut-off to teaching and research stations under any emergency situation. Only the building service power for lighting etc. will be available under this condition.

B. Research Projects Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the designed lab is the inclusion of four research stations to which all the field power sources can be switched on whenever they are not in use in teaching stations. Due diligence was exercised to ensure maximum safety of users of the facility by designing the laboratory such that there is only one station, teaching or research, where a field power source can be used at a given time. At research stations, these field power sources can be connected to 3-phase main grid, 3-phase micro-grid, isolated load banks, battery banks, motors, energy storages etc. through novel power converters controlled using new advanced control algorithms. Vast area is opened up for research projects not only on all the topics and subtopics listed in Table III but also on many other topics limited perhaps only by the imagination of researchers.

C. Presentations At the presentation area of the laboratory, classes on renewable energy and micro grids can be conducted not only to regular undergraduate and postgraduate students, but also to many other visitors such as professional engineers, industry entrepreneurs, school children and general public. The large LCD display will display all the networks and the power flow at each of the 12 stations, weather conditions and historical data of the system. Furthermore, same data made available through internet will enable researchers and students around the globe to get access to the current and historical data on the operating condition of the renewable energy system and weather. This together with a set of remote controlled video cameras would enable to bring the renewable energy laboratory to the lecture theatre.

VII. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE PROSPECTS Despite all the challenges faced Green Electric Energy Park

is currently at the stage of placing orders for all the major equipment. Facilities improvement to the site and the building are well on its way to completion. Barring any other major challenges, the project is expected to be fully completed and the laboratory ready for teaching and research purposes in semester 2 starting in July 2011. Two major tasks that lie ahead are to test each teaching and research station and prepare lab manuals for the experiments listed in Table III. Labview based software platform then needs to be customized for the designed experiments so that students can conveniently complete their experiments. Looking further into the future, GEEP can be further expanded to cover other renewable energy topics such as solar water heating and solar desalination. Already, a hydrogen research station is being planned near the hydrogen storage of

GEEP so that new electrolysers, fuel cells and storage medium can be invented and tested. Moreover, GEEP will also be equipped with a smart metering infrastructure for smart grid research and a research station will be allocated for smart vehicles which employ renewable energy sources, battery banks, fuel cell stacks etc. In summary, GEEP is heading towards a successful completion despite many obstacles it encountered. It will serve as a model for a state of the art laboratory in renewable energy for all the universities in Australia and around the globe. It will also generate increased awareness about renewable energy technologies among student population and among professionals, entrepreneurs and general public.

VIII. BIOGRAPHIES Sumedha Rajakaruna (M’93–SM’07) received the degrees B.Sc.Eng., M.Sc. and Ph.D., from University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka in 1986, University of Calgary, Canada in 1989 and University of Toronto, Canada in 1993, respectively, all in the area of electrical engineering. He was a recipient of Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship for graduate studies in Canada from 1987 to 1993. From 1986 to 2000, he was with the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Moratuwa,

Sri Lanka at the levels of lecturer and senior lecturer. In 2000, he joined Nanyang Technological University, Singapore as an Assistant Professor. Since 2007, he is employed as a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia. His present research interests include control of energy smart vehicles, integration of renewable energy sources, energy storage and power converters. Dr. Rajakaruna is a member of IET and a chartered engineer registered in UK.

Syed M. Islam (S’82–M’89–SM’93) received the B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, in 1979, 1983, and 1988, respectively, all in electrical power engineering. He is currently the Chair Professor in electrical power engineering and Head of Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia. He has authored or coauthored more than 170 technical

papers. His research interests include condition monitoring of transformers, wind energy conversion, power quality and harmonics, and power systems. Dr. Islam was the recipient of the IEEE T Burke Haye’s Faculty Recognition Award in 2000. He received the prestigious 2010 inaugural Paul Dunn Research Development award at Curtin University. He has been a Keynote Speaker and an Invited Speaker at many international workshops and conferences. He is the current Vice-Chair of the Australasian Committee for Power Engineering and a member of the Board of Directors of the Australian Power Academy. He is a Fellow of the Engineers Australia, a Senior Member of the IEEE Industry Applications Society, Power Engineering Society, Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society, a Fellow of the Institution of engineering and Technology, and a Chartered Engineer in the United Kingdom. He is a Regular Reviewer for the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION AND POWER DELIVERY. He is an Editor of the IEEETRANSACTION ON SUSTAINABLE ENERGY.