From August 31 to September 4, the Third International Summer School on "Operation and Control of Power-Electronics-Dominated Power Systems" (International Summer School on IBR-dominated Power Systems) was held at the University of Strathclyde in the United Kingdom. The summer school lasted five days, with courses covering modeling and control, stability and reliability analysis, fault handling and protection, artificial intelligence applications, and economic analysis of power systems dominated by power electronic resources, and included parallel small-class sessions, poster exchanges, and technical visits. The instructors at this summer school brought together 34 experts from 10 countries and 20 universities and industry in the field, and there were 88 participants in total from 56 institutions in 20 countries. Professor Sun Kai and Associate Professor Zhang Ning from the Department of Electrical Engineering were invited to give on-site lectures, and Professor Wang Xiongfei gave an online lecture; a total of 8 doctoral and master's students from the Department of Electrical Engineering participated in the summer school.

Group photo of summer school participants

Faculty from the Department of Electrical Engineering invited to teach at the summer school

On August 31, Wang Xiongfei delivered an online lecture for the summer school entitled "Grid-forming Converters under Large Disturbances." Addressing issues such as controlled fault currents, changes in system strength, and insufficient adaptability of traditional protection after the integration of a high proportion of power electronic equipment, he explained the dynamic response and control methods of grid-forming converters under large-disturbance scenarios such as voltage sags and short-circuit faults, analyzed the effects of different control strategies on fault ride-through capability, transient stability, and protection coordination, and further discussed how to enhance the safe and stable operation level of new-type power systems under complex disturbances by optimizing converter control, strengthening system support capability, and promoting control-protection coordination.

Wang Xiongfei's online lecture

On September 2, Sun Kai and Zhang Ning taught at the summer school. The title of Sun Kai's lecture was "Advanced Power Electronics for Flexibility Enhancement in Distribution Networks." Addressing the voltage fluctuations, wideband harmonics, three-phase imbalance, and transient stability issues brought about by the high-proportion integration of distributed photovoltaics, wind power, electric vehicle charging facilities, and various new types of loads into distribution networks, he introduced the latest regulation technologies of photovoltaic inverters, energy storage converters, charging piles, new-load converters, distribution network/microgrid flexible interconnection equipment, and power quality management equipment, and discussed development directions such as coordinated power quality management, transient emergency control, and optimal allocation of multiple resources.

Sun Kai giving a special lecture

The title of Zhang Ning's lecture was "Data-Driven Security and Stability Rule for Power System Operation and Planning." Addressing the issues of declining system inertia and short-circuit strength and the greater difficulty of characterizing operating boundaries after the integration of a high proportion of power electronic resources, he introduced methods for extracting interpretable security and stability rules from operating data, and explained how to embed these rules into economic dispatch and unit commitment optimization, and how to make operating decisions while considering voltage stability and transient stability constraints.

Zhang Ning giving a special lecture

In addition, during the summer school, Sun Kai and Zhang Ning also served as moderators for some course modules and organized on-site questions and discussions around the lecture content. The two teachers actively guided participating faculty and students to engage in exchanges with the lecture guests, encouraged in-depth discussion, promoted the collision of viewpoints and exchange of ideas across different research backgrounds, and created a high-quality, highly interactive academic exchange atmosphere for the summer school.

Sun Kai moderating a lecture session

Zhang Ning moderating a lecture session

Graduate students from the Department of Electrical Engineering participated extensively in exchanges

A total of 8 graduate students from the Department of Electrical Engineering, from multiple specialized directions such as power systems and power electronics, participated in the summer school courses this time and actively took part in on-site discussions and exchange activities in connection with their respective research directions.

The thematic courses covered directions such as stability analysis, operation planning, and control and protection of power-electronics-dominated power systems. After the lectures, the students from the Department of Electrical Engineering held in-depth exchanges with the lecture guests around the course content and discussed the key technical issues in the lectures with the speakers.

Li Zhongze asking a question at the lecture site

During the poster exchange session, Chen Muyang presented a research poster and introduced the research approach and phased results to participating faculty and students, holding in-depth discussions with graduate students from different research directions around key issues, technical methods, and result analysis; other members of the delegation also actively participated in the poster discussions, learned about the research progress of different teams through the exchanges, and discussed technical issues of common interest.

Chen Muyang presenting and discussing a poster

This summer school was co-organized by the Tsinghua University-Imperial College London Joint Research Center for Smart Power and Energy Systems. The successful holding of the summer school further enhanced the international influence of the Department of Electrical Engineering of Tsinghua University in the field of power-electronics-dominated power systems. The students gained a concentrated understanding of research progress in directions such as modeling, stability analysis, protection, operation optimization, and new power electronic equipment for power systems dominated by power electronic equipment; the five days of joint learning enhanced exchanges between faculty and students and brought new ideas for the students' subsequent research work.

Group photo of summer school participants from the Department of Electrical Engineering

Summer school overview

The International Summer School on "Operation and Control of Power-Electronics-Dominated Power Systems" was jointly founded by the Department of Electrical Engineering of Tsinghua University and the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of Imperial College London, with assistance in organization from the Tsinghua University-Imperial College London Joint Research Center for Smart Power and Energy Systems, and was held at Imperial College London and Tsinghua University in 2024 and 2025, respectively. This summer school was the third edition, with five days of courses covering topics such as grid operation, planning and control, stability assessment, DC transmission technology, microgrids, new types of loads, hardware-in-the-loop simulation, and artificial intelligence applications. Beyond the courses, the summer school also arranged poster exchanges and technical visits, providing opportunities for face-to-face exchanges among faculty and students from universities and enterprises.