Sponsor: Foothill Section
Speaker: Professor Glauco Taranto

Date: 24 Nov 2025
Time: 11:00 AM PST to 12:00 PM PST
Cost:
Location:
Reservations: IEEE
Summary:
Widely recognized as a hydroelectric powerhouse, Brazil has historically relied on hydropower to supply more than 90% of its annual electricity demand. In recent years, however, this dominance has declined with the rapid expansion of wind and solar generation. A significant portion of the new solar capacity comes from behind-the-meter distributed generation, which remains largely uncontrollable and unobservable by the Brazilian Interconnected Power System (BIPS) operator.

Spanning continental dimensions, the BIPS depends on an extensive AC transmission network supplemented by six HVDC links, totaling 20 GW of DC transmission capacity. Four of these links are radial connections from major generation sites, while the two most recently commissioned and another currently under construction are embedded within the AC network.

The system is divided into four geo-electric regions with distinct seasonal wet and dry conditions, all synchronously connected through extra-high-voltage AC lines. This configuration underscores the critical role of interregional transmission. The rapid expansion of wind and solar farms, particularly in the Northeast region, has further increased the importance of these transmission corridors. In response, Brazil is expanding HVDC interconnections between geo-electric regions to transfer surplus renewable generation to the main load centers in the Southeast.

The growing share of variable renewable resources, combined with a market-based dispatch framework, has placed new demands on the control systems of embedded HVDC links. These conditions call for advanced HVDC power flow control strategies capable of adapting to real-time variations in generation and demand, while mitigating adverse effects such as loop flows and increased transmission losses.

The major blackout of August 15, 2023, exposed vulnerabilities previously unnoticed by the system operator. This webinar will provide an overview of the current state of the BIPS, discuss the technical and operational challenges associated with IBRs and hybrid AC/DC transmission integration, and highlight key insights from the 2023 blackout event.
Bio: Professor Glauco Taranto Received the B.Sc. degree in 1988 from the State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the M.Sc. degree in 1991 from the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the Ph.D. degree in 1994 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA, all in Electrical Engineering (EE) with emphasis on Electric Power Engineering.

In 2006, he was on sabbatical leave as a Visiting Fellow at Centro Elettrotecnico Esperimentale Italiano (CESI), Milan, Italy. Since 1995, he has been with the EE Department of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro / COPPE, Brazil, where he is currently a Professor, and head of the Power Systems Group and Laboratory.

He is the vice-chair of the IEEE PES Power System Dynamic Performance Committee, and a member of the Administrative Committee of CIGRÉ-Brasil. He was president of the IEEE Rio de Janeiro Section in 2008-2009, and Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Power Systems in 2016-2020. His research interests include power system dynamics, protections and controls, robust control design, distributed energy resources and hybrid AC/DC networks.