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Grid-Connected Power Electronics

The amount of grid-connected power electronics converters increases continuously due to renewable energy generation and efforts to improve energy efficiency. Our mission is to improve the performance of grid-connected power electronic converters to enable efficient use of renewable energy sources, intelligent battery storage systems and future microgrids.

Research focus and goals

Power electronics converters are used to interface grid-connected electrical storages, charging of electric vehicles, empowering huge data centers and enabling the use of variable-speed motor drives, just to name a few applications. Practically all modern electric applications that produce or consume electricity, require power electronics at the grid interface.

Our main goal is to enable efficient, reliable and uninterrupted operation of grid-connected converters, enable renewable energy sources and energy storages. Our research interests include power electronics in traditional power systems, DC and AC microgrids and islanded power systems.

The dynamic phenomena, such as power quality problems, are becoming more complex and harder to analyze, when more power converters are integrated to the existing power systems. We are developing methods and technologies to analyze and detect power quality and stability problems to secure the availability of electrical energy in modern power-electronics-based power systems.

Our research topics include dynamic properties and modeling of grid-connected inverters and active rectifiers, adaptive control methods, grid synchronization algorithms, grid-forming inverters, DC and AC microgrids and grid support functions, such as frequency and voltage support. At Tampere University we have state-of-the-art laboratories, where we can replicate the dynamic phenomena in modern power electronics-based power systems using high-end electrical simulators and power-hardware-in-the-loop test setups.

We have close collaboration with international universities and actively collaborate in research projects with national and international companies.

Other members

Research is carried out in the Laboratory of Electrical Engineering where Assistant Professor Tomi Roinila is responsible for supervision.

We have international collaboration with international universities, such as  Aalborg (Denmark), Salerno (Italy) and South-Carolina (U.S.), and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (U.S.).

Contact persons

Tomi Roinila

Assistant Professor

tomi.roinila [at] tuni.fi