Following on the success of four international symposia devoted to the technological advances in power electronics and distributed generation, the 5^th International Symposium on Power Electronics for Distributed Generation Systems (PEDG 2014) was recently held at NUI Galway.

PEDG 2014 saw representation from 24 countries, with 130 delegates and experts presenting their state-of-the-art developments in Distributed Generation Systems such as wind, solar, wave and biofuel energy sources.

The conference programme included several keynote sessions at which internationally renowned researchers and industry speakers presented on topics ranging from ‘Taming the Intermittent Nature of Renewable Energy’ by Professor Ron Hui of Hong Kong University, to ‘eCar Adoption: A European Perspective’ by Patrick Foley from ESB ecars.

The conference was organised by Professor Gerard Hurley and Dr Maeve Duffy of the Power Electronics Research Centre (PERC) at NUI Galway, whose aim is to foster links with industry by transferring power electronics technology from a strong research base in the University to the wider community. Current research topics in PERC include the design of miniaturised (resonant) power converters with high efficiency, and the application of photovoltaic (PV) energy to charging of electric vehicles. PEDG 2014 provided an opportunity to discuss these and other research topics with world renowned industry and academic experts.   

The conference is sponsored by IEEE Power Electronics Society and was previously held in China, Denmark and the USA. Full details about the conference are available at www.pedg2014.org.

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