Prof. Zakir Hussain Rather

Electrical energy system/electricity grid over the past several decades has been undergoing multidimensional and fast transformation, with rapid growth in renewable energy (RE) integration, and decarbonisation of the transportation sector through electric mobility. The increasing level of variable RE generation, and increased controllable load/generation due to electric mobility in a deregulated market has pushed the transmission and distribution system to operate close to their security and stability limits. In this backdrop, my research focus is on RE integration, electric vehicle integration, and the challenges posed by such variable and uncertain sources of generation and electric mobility to electric grid operation, with the main goal of achieving a reliable, secure and stable electricity system. Besides my experience in India, for past several years, I have worked in similar areas, both in Industry and in Academia, mainly in Europe with a short stint in US.

ACADEMIC BACKGROUND

  • Ph. D., Electrical Engineering (Power Systems), Aalborg University, Denmark
  • PDF (Power Systems), Electricity Research Centre, UCD, Ireland

RESEARCH INTEREST

  • Grid Integration of Renewables (Wind and Solar PV Power Plants)
  • System Integration of Renewables
  • Power System Dynamics and Control
  • Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure
  • Electric Vehicle Grid Integration
  • Grid Scale Storage Technology and it's Grid Integration
  • Hydrogen Storage (System Integration of Electrolyser and Fuel Cell)
  • Carbon Neutral Energy Systems
  • Wide Area Measurement Systems (WAMS), Wide Area Monitoring Protection and Control (WAMPAC)
  • Smart Grid and Microgrid, and Demand Side Response/Management

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

  • R&D Engineer, KK Wind Solutions, Denmark (โ‰ˆ4 years)
  • Senior Post Doctoral Researcher, Electricity Research Centre, UCD, Ireland (โ‰ˆ1 year)
  • Assistant Professor, Department of EEE, IIT Guwahati (โ‰ˆ4 months)
  • Visiting Researcher at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), USA (โ‰ˆ4 months)

COURSES OFFERED

  • EN 639-Renewable Energy Integration
  • EN 663-Electric Vehicle Grid Integration
  • EN 304- Electrical Power Systems
  • EN 602- Foundation for Energy Engineering
  • EN 212-Electrical Machines
  • EN 209-Basic Electrical & Electronics Engineering

CONTACT ADDRESS

Room No. EN 417, 4th floor, Energy Science and Engineering building (opp. KV School), Department of Energy Science and Engineering, IIT Bombay Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra-400076

Phone: +91 22-2576-9341

Email: zakir.rather@iitb.ac.in

Professional Associations & Services:

  • Expert member of IEC TC 88 WG 27 Committee
  • Member of R&D Council of National Institute of Wind Energy (MNRE)
  • Registered Expert for Joint Research Centre, European commission, Netherlands, and Various Professional Services
  • Member BIS committee for EV Charging Standards
  • Member BIS committee for Wind Turbine Generator Standards
  • Member of Several Committees of Ministry of Power constituted for Grid Stability and Related Aspects
  • Editor, IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy (Since 2021)
  • Editor, IETE Technical Review (Since 2022)
  • Guest Editor, Special Issue on Special Issue on Flexible and Resilient Urban Energy Systems (FRUES)- International Journal of Power and Energy Systems
  • Guest Editor, Special Issue on Control of Renewable Energy Systems – International Journal of Power and Energy Systems
  • Executive Member, IEEE Bombay Section
  • Organising Secretary, 8th International Conference on Advances in Energy Research
  • Senior Member, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)
  • Member, IEEE Power Engineering Society (PES)
  • Member, IEEE Smart Grid Community
  • Member, IEEE Industrial Electronics Society
  • Member, Danish Smart Grid Research Group

Invited Talks:

(Updated until 2021)

  • Electric vehicle integration, VNIT Nagpur,, Nagpur, India.
  • Keynote on Grid Integration of Renewable Energy,National conference on Innvovations in Sustainable Energy and Technology,, Bangalore, India.
  • Grid Integration of Renewable Energy, Velagapudi Ramakrishna Siddhartha Engineering College,, Vijaywada, India.
  • Impact of Renewable Energy Integration on Grid operation, IPS Academy,, Indore, India.
  • Impact of Electric vehicle integration on distribution system, Kamaraj College of Engineering and Technology,, Madurai, India.
  • Electric vehicle integration and grid support from EVs, NIT Calicut,, Kozhikode, India.
  • Grid integration of renewable eenrgy, NIT Raipur,, Raipur, India.
  • Technical Barriers in Renewable Energy Integration, College of Energineering Pune (CoEP),, Pune, India.
  • Grid operation under high penetration of renewable eenrgy, VJTI,, Mumbai, India.
  • Grid Integration & Recent Research trends in Electrical Subsystems, 2nd PAN India Research Network meet organised by NIWE at MNIT Jaipur,, Mumbai, India.
  • Renewable Energy Integration and Technical Challenges, VNIT Nagpur,, Mumbai, India.
  • International practices on grid connectivity of RE generators, Western Regional Load Dispatch Centre (WRLDC), POSOCO, Mumbai, India.
  • Technical challenges with wind power integration, 5th International Wind Conference,, Chennai, India.
  • Renewable energy integration in India, National conference on New-generation materials for energy applications, Chennai, India.
  • Grid operation under low system inertia, National Institute of Engineering, Mysore, India.
  • Power System Stability under Renewable Energy Penetration, NIT Calicut, kozhikode, India.
  • Indian Power System-Renewable Energy Integration Perspective, Monash University, Monash, Australia.
  • System Integration of Large-scale Renewable Energy, Monash University, Monash, Australia.
  • Wind turbine generator technology, National Institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai, India.
  • Grid code regulation for Renewable energy power plants, NIT Raipur, Raipur, India.
  • Sytem integration of Renewables (Wind and Solar PV power), VNIT Nagpur, Nagpur, India.
  • Grid integration of Renewables (Wind and Solar PV power), VNIT Nagpur, Nagpur, India.
  • Stability of renewable energy integrated grid: Coimbatore Institute of Technology, Coimbatore, India.
  • Technical challenges in renewable energy sources: Malnad College of Engineering, Hassan,Karnataka, India.
  • LVRT compliance issues with renewable energy generating units (wind and solar PV): Western Regional Power Committee (WRPC), Mumbai, India.
  • Emerging Issues in Large-Scale Wind Integrated Power Systems and Their Potential Solutions: CEA R&D conclave on Emerging Opportunities and Challenges of R& D in Indian Power Sector, New Delhi, India.
  • Grid operation under high penetration of renewables: Western Regional Load Dispatch Centre (WRLDC), Mumbai, India.
  • Dynamic voltage stability and LVRT implications: International workshop on RE integration, Chennai, India.
  • Emerging Ancillary Service Products in Renewable Energy Integrated Power Systems: International conf. on Large-Scale Grid Integration of Renewable Energy in India New Delhi, India.
  • Introductory Keynote on Wind System Modelling: International conf. on Large-Scale Grid Integration of Renewable Energy in India New Delhi, India.
  • Large-scale wind integration in India: Technical challenges and opportunities: Divecha Center for Climate Change, IISc Bangalore Bangaluru, India.
  • Large-scale wind integration: Technical challenges and opportunities: 4th International Conf. on Power, Control and Embedded Systems Allahabad, India.
  • Short Term Flexibility Issues of Large-Scale Wind Integrated Power System: Joint Research Centre, European Commission,
  • WAMS Based Hierarchical Voltage Control for Large Scale Wind Integrated Power Systems: Danish Wind Industry Annual Event, Organised by the Danish Wind Industry Association and Danish Research Consortium for Wind Energy, Herning, Denmark.
  • Reactive Power Compensation of Large-Scale Wind Integrated Power System: dk (Danish national TSO), Fredericia, Denmark.
  • Grid Support Functionalities of Wind Farms and Market opportunities, Technology Day, KK Wind Solutions, Ikast, Denmark.

Conference activities:

  • Organising committee member, 6th International Conference on Advances in Energy Research 2017
  • Technical program committee member, 7th IEEE International Conference on Power Systems (ICPS), 2017
  • Technical program committee member, 4th International Conference on Power, Control & Embedded Systems (ICPCES), 2017
  • Organising committee member, 7th International Conference on Advances in Energy Research 2019

Reviewer:

  • IEEE Transactions on Power System
  • IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion
  • IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy
  • IEEE Transactions on Smart Grids
  • IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics
  • IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics
  • IEEE Transactions on Industrial Applications
  • International Journal of Electrical Power & Energy Systems
  • International transactions on Electrical Energy Systems
  • Electric Power Components and Systems
  • WIRES Energy and Environment
  • International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control
  • Various IEEE conferences

Administrative Responsibility (current & past):

  • Member, Departmental Policy Committee (DPC)
  • Warden, Hostel-1
  • Associate Warden, Hostel-2
  • Member, Departmental Under Graduate Committee (DUGC)
  • Member, M.Tech Admission Committee
  • Department Social Media Coordinator
  • Department Coordinator, TechConnect
  • Internship Coordinator
  • Member, Department Disciplinary Action Committee
  • Faculty Advisor: Team Shunya
  • Faculty Advisor: M.Tech