[SYP Webinar] Rethinking Power Grid Resilience: The Iberian Wake-Up Call
Thursday 26 March 2026 at 1:00 PM CET, 8:00 AM EDT
By Sertac Bayhan, Anas Karaki, and Abdullah Berkay Bayindir
Register now using the link below:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3548555483943079256
Abstract:
Modern power systems are undergoing rapid transformation, challenged by increasing renewable penetration, reduced inertia, and rising electrification demands. This webinar brings together three interconnected perspectives to explore how intelligent control, advanced inverter technologies, and innovative EV charging infrastructures can collectively strengthen grid resilience.
The first segment, “Rethinking Power Grid Resilience”, examines lessons learned from recent disturbances across the Iberian Peninsula, which revealed vulnerabilities tied to extreme weather, renewable intermittency, and regional interdependencies. Rather than viewing resilience as static redundancy, this talk reframes it as a dynamic, adaptive capability. By analyzing cascading failures and gaps in situational awareness, we highlight how real-time monitoring, grid-forming strategies, and AI-driven predictive control can shape power systems that anticipate, withstand, and evolve from disruptions.
The second segment, “Enhancing Stability in Low-Inertia Power Systems with Grid-Forming Inverters”, focuses on the growing importance of GFMs as synchronous machine behavior diminishes. As renewable integration accelerates, GFMs provide essential voltage and frequency regulation, enabling inverter-based resources to contribute meaningfully to system stability. This section explores their role in improving dynamic response, fault recovery, and overall grid support in next-generation low-inertia networks.
The final segment, “Next-Generation EV Charging Infrastructures”, addresses how widespread EV adoption introduces new operational challenges and opportunities. Advancements in power electronics and intelligent control enable charging networks to interact seamlessly with smart grids. This talk highlights model-based and hierarchical control strategies that support adaptive energy management, enhance grid interaction, and unlock the potential of EVs as active participants in resilient energy ecosystems.
Together, these three perspectives provide a comprehensive view of how emerging technologies and control strategies can shape the resilient, flexible, and intelligently managed electric grids of the future.
Presenters’ bio:
Dr. Sertac Bayhan is a distinguished scholar with a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Gazi University, Ankara, where he also completed his MS and undergraduate studies, graduating as valedictorian. His academic career commenced at Gazi University in 2008, ascending from Lecturer to Full Professor by 2022. Between 2014 and 2018, he served as an Associate Research Scientist at Texas A&M University at Qatar. Currently, he holds a dual appointment as Principal Scientist at Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI) and Professor at Gazi University. As co-founder and CTO of a tech startup, he has successfully translated research into impactful technologies, including fast EV charging stations and advanced power converters.
Dr. Bayhan’s research is at the forefront of power electronics and their pivotal roles in advanced power systems, focusing on renewable energy integration, electrified transportation, and demand-side management. His work has attracted over $20M in research funding and yielded more than 200 publications in esteemed IEEE journals and conferences. He has authored five books and contributed to ten book chapters, cementing his reputation in the field.
Within IEEE IES, he served as Chair of the Power Electronics Technical Committee (2018–2022), Delegate of the Energy Cluster (2022–2024), and currently serves as Chair of the IEEE IES Qatar Section Chapter. He was General Chair of the IEEE IES CPE-POWERENG conferences in 2018 (Qatar) and 2025 (Türkiye), and will serve as General Chair of the flagship IECON 2026 in Qatar. He also serves as Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics (TIE), IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Industrial Electronics (JESTIE), and IEEE Open Journal of the Industrial Electronics Society (OJIES).
Dr. Anas Karaki received his B.S. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Texas A&M University at Qatar, Doha, Qatar, in 2016, and his M.S. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA, in 2020. He received his PhD in sustainable energy from Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), Doha, Qatar, in 2024.
Currently, he is a postdoctoral research fellow at Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI). His research interests include energy management for microgrids, demand-side management, electric vehicles, data centers, energy storage systems, evolutionary game theory, reinforcement learning, predictive control, and seamless islanding.
Abdullah Berkay Bayindir received the B.Sc. degree in electrical and electronics engineering from the TOBB University of Economics and Technology (TOBB ETU), Ankara, Türkiye, in 2023.
He is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in grid ancillary services at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA. His research interests include power converters, advanced control, renewable energy, and embedded software programming.
He is the recipient of the IECON 2024 Student & Young Professionals Award from the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society and the CPE-POWERENG 2025 Best Paper Award.