December 2020: Chen-Ching Liu
Chen-Ching Liu
American Electric Power Professor
Electrical and Computer Engineering
PhD, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California, Berkeley
MS, Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
BS, Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
Email ccliu@vt.edu
How do you see your work contributing to the goals and vision of IIHCC?
My collaboration with Virginia Tech Electric Service (VTES) through the Virginia Tech Climate Action Working Group (WG) is concerned with how the power grid and electric energy impact the society we live in. To deal with issues arising from climate change, the WG recommends a goal of 100% renewable electricity to help improve the overall quality of life. We propose a technology solution toward the 100% goal by building a Virginia Tech Smart Grid with large scale solar energy integrated with energy storage facilities. By storing solar energy, the Virginia Tech Smart Grid will be enabled to meet energy demand at all times and maximize the utilization of solar energy. The energy storage also enhances resilience of the Virginia Tech power grid by the new capability to sustain critical services when the bulk power grid becomes unavailable due to extreme weather conditions.
The research I am doing involved with cybersecurity and resiliency is very closely tied to how we can maintain electric energy services in the interest of preventing electric service disruptions. In additional to enhancing resilience with microgrid technologies, my students and I work on cyber security of the power grid. We develop new methods to detect cyber intrusions into the information and communications technology supporting monitoring and control of electric power grids.
What other areas outside of your discipline would you entertain for future research and proposal work?
Electrical energy studies have a very natural component of economics. This is because electrical energy, by itself, is being traded and can be viewed as a commodity. People generate/consume and then buy/sell electric energy to serve their various needs. As such, economics is an area that would work well with power engineering. I have been working in collaboration with economists and I feel that we have not done enough at Virginia Tech to promote this important subject. I would love to work with economicsoriented colleagues.
Another discipline I would like to work with is sociology because electric energy impacts people. We work on technology dedicated to clean energy, but how do people actually perceive or accept that? New technology may seem wonderful at first glance, but a sociologist is able to determine whether or not a particular community would view it as such. I would love for anyone in either of these fields to feel welcome to reach out to me with ideas for collaboration, as I feel that multi-disciplinary research is a great opportunity to make high-impact contribution to all fields of study.