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The biannual conference IEEE ELECTRICAL POWER QUALITY AND UTILIZATION (IEEE EPQU 2011) was organised in the period from 17 to 19 October 2011 in Lisbon, namely at the location of Feira Internacional de Lisboa, where Expo '98 was also organised. The conference was attended by EIMV members, Mr Dejan Matvoz, MSc, and Mr Miloš Maksić. Mr Matvoz, MSc, presented an article titled “A Practical Case of Ripple Control Signal Attenuation by the Local Passive Filtering Devices”.
On 20 and 21 September 2011, the 6th International Workshop on Deregulated Electricity Market Issues in South-Eastern Europe (DEMSEE) took place in Bled, Slovenia, which was organised by the Laboratory of Electric Energy Supply and the Laboratory of Electricity Networks and Devices of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the University of Ljubljana. The Milan Vidmar Electric Power Research Institute cooperated as a sponsor, Dejan Matvoz, MSc, and Miloš Maksić presented two papers – Power Quality Connection Criteria for a 20 MW Photovoltaic Power Plant (authors: D. Matvoz, M. Miklavčič, M. Žumbar) and Impact Analysis of Network Reinforcements on Flicker Power Quality Levels (authors: M. Maksić and I. Papič).
The CIGRE 2011 Symposium titled The Electric Power System of the Future – Integrating supergrids and microgrids took place in Bologna from 13 to 15 September. Janko Kosmač, PhD, and Andrej Souvent presented their papers titled Vision of Smartgrids Implementation in Slovenia (authors: J. Kosmač, A. Souvent, G. Omahen, I. Papič) and Intelligent Platform for Supervision and Control of Distributed Generation and Customer Demands in Active Distribution Networks (authors: T. Pfajfar, A. Souvent, J. Smid, M. Sepic, M. Jerele, F. Katrašnik, I. Papič).
At the end of this month, namely from 22 to 26 August, the 17th ISH Symposium 2011 took place in Hannover, Germany. This is an important electric energy consult, which has been traditionally attended by the EIMV, which contributes many professional opinions thus enabling invaluable exchange of experience on high voltage technique, technological developmental problems related to high voltage equipment and materials. Let us also note that the 15th symposium took place in Slovenia, and was organised by the Milan Vidmar Electric Power Research Institute.
This year's symposium was attended by Prof. Maks Babuder, PhD, and Maja Končan Gradnik, MSc, who also hosted and co-hosted individual presentations.
The Institute contributed three papers, namely: RECOGNITION OF CORONA DISCHARGES OCCURING ON THE WET SURFACE OF OHL PHASE CONDUCTORS, by Prof. Maks Babuder, PhD, and Ivo Kobal; A NOVEL METHOD FOR COST-BENEFIT EVALUATION OF LIGHTNING PROTECTION IN DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS USING FLASH DENSITY MOMENTS by Janko Kosmač, PhD, Gašper Lakota Jeriček, Gregor Omahen and Zvonko Toroš, PhD; and A NOVEL METHOD TO LOCATE A FAULTY OR NOISY DIRECTIONAL SENSOR IN A LIGHTNING LOCATION NETWORK IMPROVES POWER LINE OUTAGE by Vladimir Djurica, Goran Milev and Rok Mandeljc.
Prof. Maks Babuder, PhD, also chaired the executive board of the international steering committee, which also includes professors M. Muhr from Austria, J. Smit from the Netherlands, G. Zhicheng from China and E. Gockenbach from Germany.
The next, 18th symposium will take place in Seoul, South Korea, the members of the symposium in Hannover decided that the 19th symposium will be organised in Czech Republic.
The 17th International Conference on Dielectric Liquids (ICDL) took place in Trondheim, Norway, from 26 to 30 June 2011, which focused on scientific and applied research of liquid insulation materials and diagnostic methods that are used in electric energy sector. The EIMV Institute presented a paper in the field of experimental analysis of solubility characteristics of different transformer oils (T. Gradnik, et al.: et.al.: Experimental evaluation of water content determination in transformer oil by moisture sensor). Prof. Maks Babuder, PhD, as the member of the management board of the ICDL 2011 also accepted the organisation of the next ICDL 2014 conference, which will be held in June 2014 in Bled.
At the end of May, we activated the Naš stik web portal, where we will publish news from the Milan Vidmar Electric Power Research Institute, so visit the following link: www.nas-stik.si.
On 22 June 2011 the Slovenian national television broadcasted the “Omizje” TV show with the debate on the new National Energy Programme (NEP).
The show was attended by Zvonko Bregar, MSc, from the Energy and Power System Planning Department.
Mr Bregar presented the problems related to including random renewable sources and the reliability of electricity supply. The electricity production and consumption records of the Republic of Slovenia from 2000 show that in the period prior to the economic recession the reliability of electrical energy supply was insufficient.
A regulated electricity system is the condition for increasing the share of unstable renewable sources. Integrating such sources in the electricity system, which already insufficiently enables the supply of electricity, is inappropriate.
The show can be viewed at http://tvslo.si/#ava2.108784859.
The 10th Conference of the Slovenian Committee of Electric Power Engineers CIGRE – CIRED, top professional association, took place in Ljubljana from 30 May to 1 June 2011.
The associates of the Milan Vidmar Institute presented more than 30 papers, which can be viewed at http://www.cigre-cired.si/
The aim of cooperation with CIGRE – CIRED is the development of technical know-how, exchange of experience and information between experts who are active in the field of high voltage power systems, and professional electricity distributers. The guidelines of the association play an important role in the field of developing equipment, as well as in the operations, development and maintenance of electricity systems.
The 2nd International Conference on Electric and Magnetic Fields at Extremely Low Frequencies was organised on 23 and 25 March 2011 in Paris. It was attended by EIMV Institute's associates Breda Cestnik, MSc, and Karol Grabner. Various practices and the technology in the field of research, measurements, calculations, modelling and reducing electric and magnetic fields, which are the consequence of operations of above ground electricity lines, cables and other electricity objects, were presented at the conference.
Between November 24 – 26, 2010, a Congress was held at Fiesa, Slovenia, organised by the Slovenian IT Professionals acting in the field of Electric Power Engineering, i.e. 2010 PIES
(www.pies.si).
The Milan Vidmar Electric Power Research Institute of Ljubljana organised for this event a Section addressing the field of Smart Grids. The introductory lecture to the Congress, which was presided by the Institute’s associate Andrej Souvent, was delivered by Prof. Dr. Maks Babuder. Within the frame of the Section, a Panel Discussion was organised on Interoperability of Information Systems in Smart Grids. The Institute’s associate, Dr. Janko Kosmač, presented his views on the topic. The Panel Discussion was moderated by Andrej Souvent.
On October 26,2010 a re-auditing - the second in its turn - took place at the Milan Vidmar Electric Power Research Institute of Ljubljana. The aim was to confirm compliance of the Institute’s Quality Management System with specifications of the ISO 9001:2008 standard (with development). The re-auditing results were assessed positively with a particular emphasize being laid on the high competence level of the Institute’s personnel, efficiency of the system enabling internal audits and surveyable and efficient implementation of the Project Quality-management Plan.
The adopted and carefully maintained Quality Management System is being persistently adhered to by the Institute’s personnel thus providing the basis towards continuous improvement and development of the Institute’s activities and assurance of its customer satisfaction.
The traditional international three-enal Höfler’s Days - the tenth in their turn - were this time organised between November 11-12, 2010 at the Bernardin Grand Hotel at Portorož.
The title of the 2010 reunion of the Electric Power Engineers was “High-voltage Equipment and Facilities in View of Environmental Impacts and Operational Reliability”.
To find more on the Symposium, please visit our web site http://www.eimv.si/hofler/
In the period from June 8 -11, 2010, the Slovenian National CIGRÉ Committee organised at Bled, Slovenia, a Working Meeting of the International Technical CIGRÉ Paris whose members are Presidents of the International Study Committees and of the Presidential Board of the International CIGRÉ Paris. At the end of the Bled Session, some of the members of the CIGRÉ Committee were presented the CIGRÉ Paris Award for 2010 in recognition of their merits. The "Distinguished member of CIGRÉ" award was delivered also to our associate Mag. Maja Končan-Gradnik in appreciation of her many years lasting efficient work in the International Study Committee D1 (for the area of materials and developing testing techniques in the systems) and in the CIGRÉ Working Groups as well as for her active involvement with the work of the CIGRÉ National Committee.
The International Conference on Harmonisation of Atmospheric Dispersion Models Used for Legislative Purposes, which was held in the period June 1- 4, 2010 in Paris, was attended by two associates of the Institute’s Environmental Department, Mag. Rudi VONČINA and Matic IVANČIČ. Matic IVANČIČ was a co-author of the paper “Comparison of different dispersion modelling approaches in a complex terrain” written by Dr. Rahela ŽABKAR, Dr. Jože RAKOVEC and Marko RUS, associates of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of the University of Ljubljana. Modelling of air-pollutant dispersion is an important tool used in assessment of impacts of human activities on air quality. It enables detection of pollutant air dispersion and movement at a high spatial and time resolution. The paper provides a comparison between the various Lagrange dispersion models.
From 1982 onwards, the Milan Vidmar Electric Power Research Institute has been organising - every two or three years - the Vidmar’s Day. At this, now already traditional reunion of electric power engineers, the Vidmar’s Medal is being presented to individual professionals and organisations active in the numerous fields of the Electricity Supply Industry for their current outstanding achievements contributed to the notable advancement of the power engineering profession or for their efficiently accomplished work. The professional part of the 2010 Vidmar’s Days - which was proceeding under the title”Cross-roads of the Slovenian Electricity Distribution in the Light of Implementation of Environmental Targets Regarding Renewable Energy Sources” - was due to its important open issues found very interesting by over 160 attendants of the event.
Since the first Vidmar’s Day, there have been altogether 70 medals awarded to 27 organisations and 43 individuals. Looking backwards, one can see that the initiative has been well accepted. The 2010 individual recipients of the Vidmar’s Medal are Mr. Marjan Pezdirc, Dr. Zvonko Toroš and Mr. Mitja Vidmar. The Medal granted to Elektro-Slovenija (Slovenian Electricity Distribution Utility) was taken over by Mag. Milan Jevšenak and the one granted to Savske elektrarne (Sava-river hydro-power plants) by Mr. Albin Koršič. The Medals were presented to their recipients by the Institute’s Director, Dr. Boris Žitnik, and Chairman of the Milan Vidmar Medal-awarding Committee, Prof.Dr. Maks Babuder.
Od leta 1982 do danes je bilo podeljenih skupno 70 plaket, od teh 27 organizacijam in 43 posameznikom. Pogled nazaj kaže, da je bila pobuda dobro sprejeta in tako so letos plakete prejeli: gospod Marjan Pezdirc, dr. Zvonko Toroš in gospod Mitja Vidmar, v imenu podjetja Elektro-Slovenija, d.o.o. je nagrado prevzel mag. Milan Jevšenak, za Savske elektrarne Ljubljana, d.o.o. pa g. Albin Koršič. Plakete sta podelila direktor, dr. Boris Žitnik in predsednik Komisije za podeljevanje Vidmarjevih plaket, prof.dr. Maks Babuder.
In the professional part of the event, the Institute’s Director, Dr. Boris Žitnik, in his introductory paper entitled “Global Trends and Environmental Commitments” presented his views on development of Smart Grids and Renewable Energy Sources and on implementation of the set environmental goals. To follow were Dr. Franc Žlahtič (Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Slovenia) with a lecture on »Environmental Commitments and Measures Undertaken by the Republic of Slovenia”, Irena Praček (Public Agency of the Republic of Slovenia for Energy - JARSE) »Allocation of the Network Fee under Pressure of Implementation of Adopted Environmental Commitments”, Mag. Zvonko Bregar (Milan Vidmar Electric Power Research Institute) »Renewable Energy Sources«, Mag. Dejan Matvoz (Milan Vidmar Electric Power Research Institute) » SmartGrids Concept – Do we know what they are?«, Andrej Souvent (Milan Vidmar Electric Power Research Institute) »Consumer Services in the SmartGrids Concept« and Gregor Omahen (Milan Vidmar Electric Power Research Institute) »Economic Aspects of Implementation of Environmental Commitments«.
In May this year, the Head of the Institutes Environmental Department, Mag. Rudi Vončina, paid a visit to GRNSPG (Gruppo di Ricerca Nucleare San Piero a Grado) in Pisa which was founded in 2003 and is acting under the patronage of the University of Pisa.
The Head of the San Piero Nuclear Research Group, Prof. Dr. Francesco D'AURIA, presented to our associate some of the important projects the work of the Group is involved with. The Group - consisting of forty members - has distinguished itself for being one of the leading research groups worldwide in the area of Nuclear Power Plant Risk Analysis and Management. The experts of the Group are members of a number of international organisations, such as European Commission, OECD/NEA, IAEA, ANSALDO, CEA, EDF, IRSN, AREVA NP, OKB-GIDROPRESS, GRS, etc.
Upon the introductory presentation of the Group commitments, Dr. Nikolaus MÜLLNER provided details of their Training Program, fields of their expertise and their international references and connections having been established over the years of their existence.
Between May 2 – 5, 2010, the 20th International Symposium, the Days of Josip Lončar, were organised in Šibenik, Croatia. At this traditional event, several internationally acknowledged specialists provided their views on various currently interesting topics. Their special emphasize was laid on power engineering. The three papers contributed to the Symposium by the Milan Vidmar Electric Power Research Institute of Ljubljana addressed the current issues being copped with in the area of power transmission and modern illumination devices used in the electric power system. Besides presenting their papers, the Symposium participants also took part in efficient discussion on the current pending issues concerning the electricity supply industry.
During August 24 - 28, 2009, Cape Town, South Africa, was hosting the 16th ISH. This largest symposium of specialists, whose work is committed to the area of the high-voltage technique, was two years ago successfully organized by us in Ljubljana. The 2009 ISH was attended by the representatives of our Institute and ELES, the national Power Distribution Utility. We altogether contributed six papers. The Symposium was a precious opportunity for various discussions and exchange of experiences among specialists coming from all parts of the world. The most important role of the Symposium was this time assigned to the President of the Steering Committee, prof. dr. Maks Babuder, who performed it excellently. The next ISH Symposium, the 17th in turn, will take place in 2011 in Hannover, Germany, and the 18th in Seul, South Korea, in 2013.
For more information, you are invited to visit our http://www.ish2009.org/.
In the days from Nov. 26 - 29 this year there was the first fair of the series "Job Fair" held at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the University of Ljubljana. The goal of the fair was to present to students and graduates from various natural science faculties work of organisations active in different technical fields. Among the thirteen organisations presenting themselves, one of them was also the Milan Vidmar Electric Power Research Institute. The students and graduates, who showed great interest in the fair, were given the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the work conducted at the Institute both in general and specifically over the various fields of the Institute's activities, to learn more about our Scalar and Strelec lightning stroke detection systems and to visit our High-voltage Laboratory were they attended some of the basic high-voltage measurements and tests. We were delighted to see the enthusiasm with which they listened to our presentations, examined the Laboratory and raised questions.
At the ELES's business-social meeting held at the Grand Union hotel in Ljubljana on November 20th this year, the Managing Director of the Milan Vidmar Electric Power Research Institute, Prof. Dr. Maks Babuder, received in the name of the Institute the ELES's Great Blue Award in recognition of the Institute's many years lasting efficient participation in solving the important ELES's development and investment projects with a particular emphasize being laid on the quality solutions accomplished in the recent years.
