Arpan Koirala

Power System Engineer, PhD

Orchid Id: 0000-0003-4826-7137

Google Scholar: scholar.google/arpan

Date of CV: 2023/07/30

Email: arpankoirala@gmail.com

Tel. No: +358-504070044, +32-456308614

Current address: Lappeenranta, Finland

Summary of Qualification

Degree

Thesis: final.thesis/arpan

Presentation during the public defense: Public defense/arpan

Language skills

Current Role

Principal Power Systems Engineer (Jan 2024 - )

Reactive Technologies, Oulu, Finland (http://www.reactive-technologies.com/)

Research and development for GridMetrix

Work Experience

Power System Expert (June 2023- Jan 2024 )

Ampner Oy, Vaasa, Finland (https://www.ampner.com/)

Grid compliance studies for Wind power plants, BESS, and hybrid plants

Research Assistant/ Post-doctoral researcher (Nov 2018 – May 2023)

KU Leuven and Energyville, Belgium

• Worked on three different projects with work package leader of one
• Supervised 4 master thesis students and 4 summer job interns
• Participated in 2 new proposals for EU and Belgian funding

Grid studies for bidirectional and fluctuating electricity flow: Project BREGILAB (2018-2022)

Funded by Federal Department of Energy, Energy transition Fund

Project partners: KU Leuven, VITO, IMEC, University of Hasselt

Main tasks

Responsible for one complete work package out of seven

• Probabilistic grid congestion studies in low voltage distribution systems using simulation based approach (Monte-Carlo and quasi Monte-Carlo approach) and analytical surrogate modelling based methods (general polynomial chaos (gPC) approach).

• Innovative Hosting Capacity calculation methods to see the impact of planning scenarios in operational limits.

• Chance constrained optimization tool to calculate stochastic hosting capacity.

Main results

• Methodology to compute hosting capacity of distribution feeders of Flanders region in Belgium.

• Test cases of active load management.

• Collaboration to form an energy atlas (map with energy potential) of Belgium.

Developing Universal Approach on use of Flexibility by Distribution System Operators: Project EUniversal (2020-2022)

Funded by European Union, H2020 EUniversal project

Project partners: KU Leuven, VITO, Mitznet

Main tasks (Research assistant on German demo out of three demos)

• Julia implementation of novel flexibility assessment tool for distribution feeders of Mitznet, Germany

Main results

• Flexibility demo for Mitznet, Germany as part of project E-universal

Decision Support for Distribution System Operator: Project ADRIAN (2018-2022)

Funded by Fluvius (A DSO in Flanders region of Belgium)

Project partners: KU Leuven, VITO, Fluvius

Main tasks

• Python implementation for hosting capacity assessment tool

• Evaluation and mapping of PV hosting capacity of all feeders (350,000) of the Flanders region in Belgium

Main results

• Python based Tool for DSO to evaluate the hosting capacity of their feeders

Data driven optimization models for secure real-time operation of renewable dominated power systems: Project DISCRETE (2022-2025)

Funded by Federal Department of Energy, Energy transition Fund

Project partners: KU Leuven, University of Mons

Main tasks

• Ongoing Julia implementation of analytical stochastic optimal power flow tool for HVDC network

Research Engineer (Internship/ Master Thesis) (March 2018 – October 2018)

EDP HC Energia, Oviedo

Location- Spain

Real European low voltage test network for smart grid applications

Main results

• A methodology to integrate data from different sources GIS data, smart meter data, SCADA and field measurements (from EDP) into a common platform to have steady-state analysis of the system.

• Non-synthetic European Low voltage network: Data processing tool for EDP, Spain to convert GIS data into power flow simulation with integration of data from 4 different platform.

Consultant (April 2016 – August 2016)

Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Area (CTARA), IIT Bombay, Mumbai (India)

Location- India

Consultant for three state distribution companies in India.

Main results

• Data and reports regarding the tariff of agricultural consumers of different states for the state regulatory.

Electrical Engineer (July 2013 – December 2015)

Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited, New Delhi

Location- India

Predictive and preventive maintenance activity planning and execution of 33 kV and 11 kV grids and commercial and operation head for a district with 40000 customers (Industrial and residential mix).

Main results

• Network improvement in seven urban ghettos of New Delhi with a population of 0.3 billion in 3 square km of area reducing theft from existing 13% to 6%.

• Introduced analytical tools for theft detection in low voltage distribution network.

Publications:

14 Journals (5 Journals as main author, and 7 as co-author), 14 conference papers (4 as main author)

Top papers: (Citations from google scholar, Total citation: 303 om 01/07/2024)

  1. Koirala, A., Van Acker, T., Hashmi, M. U., D’hulst, R., & Van Hertem, D. with Koirala, A. (corresp. author) (2024). Chance-constrained optimization based PV hosting capacity calculation using general polynomial chaos. IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 2284-2295, Jan. 2024 doi: 10.1109/TPWRS.2023.3258550 (citations: 11) (Impact factor: 6.6)

  2. Koirala, A., Van Acker, T., D’hulst, R., Van Hertem, D. with Koirala, A. (corresp. author) (2022). Hosting capacity of photovoltaic systems in low voltage distribution systems: A benchmark of deterministic and stochastic approaches. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 155, Art.No. 111899. doi: 10.1016/j.rser.2021.111899 (citations: 66) (Impact factor: 15.9)

  3. Koirala, A., Suárez-Ramón, L., Mohamed, B., Arboleya, P. with Arboleya, P. (corresp. author) (2020). Non-synthetic European low voltage test system. International Journal of Electrical Power & Energy Systems, Art.No. 105712. doi: 10.1016/j.ijepes.2019.105712 (citations: 72) (Impact factor: 5.2)

  4. Koirala, A., D’hulst, R., Van Hertem, D. (2019). Impedance modelling for European style Distribution Feeder. In: 2019 International Conference on Smart Energy Systems and Technologies (SEST), (1-1). Presented at the 2019 International Conference on Smart Energy Systems and Technologies (SEST), Porto, Portugal, 09 Sep 2019-11 Sep 2019. doi: 10.1109/SEST.2019.8849015 (citations: 16)

  5. Koirala, A., Van Acker, T., D’hulst, R., Van Hertem, D. with Koirala, A. (corresp. author) (2022). Uncertainty quantification in low voltage distribution grids: Comparing Monte Carlo and general polynomial chaos approaches. Sustainable Energy, Grids and Networks, Art.No. 100763. doi: 10.1016/j.segan.2022.100763 (citations: 18) (Impact factor: 5.2)

  6. Koirala, A., Hashmi, M.U., D’hulst, R., Van Hertem, D. (2022). Decoupled probabilistic feeder hosting capacity calculations using general polynomial chaos. Electric Power Systems Research, 211, Art.No. 108535. doi: 10.1016/j.epsr.2022.108535 (citations: 12) (Impact factor: 3.9)

  7. Van Acker, T., Geth, F., Koirala, A., Ergun, H. (2022). General polynomial chaos in the current–voltage formulation of the optimal power flow problem. Electric Power Systems Research, 211, Art.No. 108472. doi: 10.1016/j.epsr.2022.108472 (citations: 8) (Impact factor: 3.9)

  8. Hoogsteyn, A., Vanin, M., Koirala, A., Van Hertem, D. (2022). Low voltage customer phase identification methods based on smart meter data. Electric Power Systems Research, 212, Art.No. 108524. doi: 10.1016/j.epsr.2022.108524 (citations: 13) (Impact factor: 3.9)

  9. Hashmi, M.U., Koirala, A., Ergun, H., Van Hertem, D. (2022). Flexible and curtailable resource activation in three-phase unbalanced distribution networks. Electric Power Systems Research, 212, Art.No. 108608. doi: 10.1016/j.epsr.2022.108608 (citations: 5) (Impact factor: 3.9)

  10. Geth, F., Heidari, R., Koirala, A. (2022). Computational Analysis of Impedance Transformations for Four-Wire Power Networks with Sparse Neutral Grounding. In: e-Energy ‘22: Proceedings of the Thirteenth ACM International Conference on Future Energy Systems, (105-113). Presented at the ACM e-Energy 2022, Virtual, 29 Jun 2022-01 Jul 2022. New York, NY, United States. ISBN: 978-1-4503-9397-3. doi: 10.1145/3538637.3538844

Tools and Open data

  1. StochasticPowerModels.jl : A Julia package to have stochastic optimization of power system problems https://github.com/timmyfaraday/StochasticPowerModels.jl

  2. ADRIAN: In house tool of Flemish Research Agency VITO for stochastic power flow. Added a module for analytical method using general polynomial chaos using agile methodology (scrum)

  3. Non-synthetic European Low voltage network: Data processing tool for EDP, Spain to convert GIS data into power flow simulation with integration of data from 4 different platform https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/685vgp64sm/1

Teaching portfolio

• Lab assistant and course responsible for course ‘Smart Distribution System’ for Master in Energy (2019 -2020).

• Teaching assistant for “Electrical Energy and Drive” for Bachelors in Engineering (2019).

• Coach for “Project and Development” for 2nd year Bachelors in Engineering (2020).

• Setup of experiment for smart grid voltage control to prevent cut-off of grid-connected inverter using programmable load, Sunnyboy inverter, PV source and Ethernet.

Research supervision and leadership experience

Co-supervisor (Master thesis) and supervisor (summer job)

• Master of Electrical Energy – 2 students

• KIC Innoenergy, Master of Energy -1 student

• Master of Energy Science (Erasmus)- 1 student

• Summer internship on data visualization – 3 students

Mentor (PhD scholars):

3 PhD students (2 from KU Leuven, 1 from University of Oviedo)

Project management/leadership

• Project Lead: Agricultural tariff recommendation; IIT Bombay

• Head of a Zone in Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited responsible directly for 49 staffs, 30,000 consumers and 17 medium voltage feeders (industrial and residential)

• Work Package lead: Project BREGILAB, Energyville, Genk

• Coach, Project and Development, A project of second year Bachelor for building smart house (2 teams)

• Collaboration with researchers from VITO (Flemish research agency), CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia), Plexigrid (grid visualisation startup in Spain), BASF (Antwerp, Belgium), EDP-Spain (DSO in Spain), Fluvius (DSO in Belgium) and Mitznet (DSO in Germany)

Awards and achievements

Erasmus Mundus Scholarship–Erasmus Mundus

scholarship Holder awarded by EACEA (European Agency for Cultural and Educational Exchange), Brussels, Belgium. Tenable in European Union to pursue Master in Sustainable Transportation and Electrical Power Systems 2016-18.

Global Electricity Scholar for the year 2016-18.
Merit Scholar during Bachelor’s degree

for the second Rank out of 74 students in Electrical Engineering.

OP Jindal Leadership Award

in the year 2010 and 2011 (for Bachelor’s study) for academic excellence and leadership traits.

COMPEX scholarship awarded by Indian Embassy

for Bachelor’s studies in India. The scholarship covers the full tuition fee and living allowance.

Seminar/ Workshop attended

• Summer school at DTU, Copenhagen, Denmark on data analytics, optimization of energy systems and modern challenges with power system operation and energy markets.

• Workshop on presentation skills organized by KU Leuven, Doctoral school, Belgium.

• 2019 International Conference on Smart Energy Systems and Technologies (SEST), Porto, Portugal, 09-11 Sep 2019.

• 16th International Conference on Probabilistic Methods Applied to Power Systems, Liege, Belgium, 18-21 Aug 2020.

• 2021 International Conference on Smart Energy Systems and Technologies (SEST), Vaasa, Finland, 06 Sep 2021-08 Sep 2021.

• Power Systems Computation Conference (PSCC) 2022, Porto, Portugal, 27 Jun 2022-01 Jul 2022.

• IEEE PES ISGT conference 2022, Novi Sad, Serbia, 9 Oct 2022-13 Oct 2022.

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