The Department of Power Engineering is part of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Wrocław University of Science and Technology. The assignment defines the scope of activities and research of the Department.

• Research

Employees of the Department do research and development activities related to production, transformation, transmission, and electricity use. The Department carries theoretical research and service work - in cooperation with domestic and international companies. The Department cooperate with international companies (ABB, Siemens, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL), Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and Moscow Energy Institute (MEI)), as well as with many universities in Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, China, Korea, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and other countries. In Poland, the Department cooperates with companies such as: KGHM Polska Miedź, Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne Operator SA, TAURON Dystrybucja SA, Legrand Fael, PGE - branches of the Brown Coal Mine in Bełchatów and Turów, branches of Elektrownia Turów and Bełchatów, PertoEltech Płock, ELECTRO-TIM SA Wrocław, national branches of Moeller, Schneider Electric, Siemens and others.

Fields of research of the Department:

Power System Automation and Control

• Digital methods of analyzing transient phenomena in power systems using EMTP-ATP and PSCAD
• Power system protection - simulation and real-time research
• Development of new criteria and algorithms for estimation these parameters for power system protection
• Application of artificial intelligence in power system automation
• Fault location in transmission and distribution lines
• Power system protection in power system with DER and Microgrids

Power system protection in MV and mining networks

• Analysis of the operation of protection in MV networks (6 kV - 30 kV), including analysis of phase to ground faults phenomena
• Measurement and analysis of higher harmonics in voltages and currents in MV networks and methods of eliminating resonance hazards
• Protection of low and medium voltage mining networks
• Optimization of the dynamics of the motors in mine rail transport and conveyor belts
• Analysis of hermetic low voltage contact switches operation
• Commutation phenomena in automation elements
• Use of Hallotron in phase to ground protection for medium voltage mining networks
• Research on contact materials and switching phenomena in hermetic power switches
• Fibre optic optoelectronics in power automation systems
• Thermal and electromagnetic phenomena in low-frequency induction heating

Electrical networks and devices

• Electrical substations and transformer stations
• Power electronic converters and studies of their impact on the power system
• Analysis power quality
• Energy storage for cooperation with the MV distribution network
• Special electrical networks in explosion, fire, chemical hazards environment, etc.

Electrical safety

• Analysis on the risk of electric shock and the effectiveness of the protection against it
• Lightning protection operational tests

Power systems

• Analysis of steady and transient states in power systems (overvoltages, short circuits, harmonics) using the PSCAD-EMTDC software
• Modelling of power systems including real-time mode
• Interconnections of power systems
• Cooperation of distribution networks with local energy sources
• Identification, modelling and forecasting of the electrical load
• Tariff systems, restructuring, deregulation and market mechanisms in the power sector
• Energy consumption of industrial processes
• Identification of energy needs of industry
• Investigation of energy consumption in industrial processes

Energy management

• Technical and economic analysis of the possibility of using distributed resources
• Assessment of technical conditions for the integration of renewable sources with the power system
• Electricity security politics
• Planning of power engineering development and repairs in power plants

The Department can offer cooperation in the presented above research fields with universities or commercial entities. The high quality of research and high research and teaching staff qualifications guarantees scientific, technical, and economic successes of cooperation. A significant part of the research has been applied in practice. Department employees are the authors of over 70 patents, including 20 foreign patents.

• International cooperation

The Department participates in the international exchange of students and researchers. The students have the opportunity to study in cooperative universities: Cork Institute of Technology (Ireland), Bath University (Great Britain), Fachhochschule Darmstadt (Germany) and others. Department employees work together with scientists from foreign universities, including Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunication (China), MEI Moscow (Russia), Stuttgart University (Germany), Magdeburg University (Germany), Chalmers University, Goeteborg (Sweden) ), Lviv University of Technology (Ukraine) and many others.

• Scientific conferences

The Department has been organizing national and international scientific conferences for many years. In recent years, some of them have become a permanent item on the calendar of scientific events.