ABOUT

Workshop Title: Smart Grid Transformation of Existing Electricity Networks in the UK and Turkey: What are the Challenges and How They Change from Smart Cities to Smart Villages

UK coordinator: Sasa Djokic, The University of Edinburgh

Turkish coordinator: Aydogan Ozdemir, Istanbul Technical University

This Researcher Links Workshop (RL-WS) addresses establishing of a general framework for evaluating “smart grid” (SG) technologies for successful implementation in urban, rural and isolated off-grid areas and networks. Such framework is currently missing in the ongoing and planned SG activities, researches and field practices.

Concept of “smart cities” is important, as it is expected that more than 70% of the worldwide population will live in urban areas by 2050. “Smart villages” are equally important, as people living and working in remote and rural areas should have access to the same reliability and quality of supply and services, which are required for their economic development and for reducing migration to urban areas. SGs are, therefore, critical for empowering all customers in all areas and regions of the UK&T.

The anticipated impact of this RL-WS reflects the differing aspirations of a number of stakeholders and beneficiaries interested in scientific and technical, commercial and economic, but also social and environmental aspects of the SG developments, including: network operators, SG developers, high-technology companies, manufacturers and entrepreneurs, but also customers, communities and local/municipal authorities.

Istanbul Technical University (ITU) is one of the world’s oldest technical universities with a long history of 250 years. Prof. Ozdemir is a full time faculty at ITU and is involved with several national and international projects on SGs, Microgrids and Building Automation Systems (BAS’).

The University of Edinburgh (UEDIN) is among the largest and most distinguished teaching and research institutions in the UK. Institute for Energy Systems (IES) at UEDIN has world leading academic staff working in electrical power systems. Dr Djokic is Reader at UEDIN/IES, with main research interests in areas of reliability and power quality, modelling and aggregation of renewable‐based distributed generation and storage (DG/S) systems, modelling of demand-side management and highly efficient (DSM/HE) loads and micro‐generation.