2024 IEEE MEDAL IN POWER ENGINEERING
Sponsored by the IEEE Industry Applications, Industrial Electronics, Power Electronics, and Power & Energy Societies
For contributions to advanced power conversion technologies for modern electric power grids
Deepak Divan is recognized internationally as a preeminent pioneer in research, innovation, and commercialization of new technologies in sectors that are at the heart of the ongoing energy transition. This includes highly efficient soft-switching converters for energy storage, EV charging, and industrial control. He has also worked on decentralized control of inverter dominant grids, and dynamic control of transmission and distribution grids to enable increased photovoltaics (PV) and wind penetration. His contributions have led to enormous societal and technical impacts that can be measured in the billions of dollars. His groundbreaking work on soft-switching converters has sparked widespread global research, leading to the development of numerous commercial products. This has propelled high-performance power electronics from a niche market to a global industry worth $70 billion annually. These efficient and compact power converters are now integrated into almost every facet of human activity, including smartphones, laptops, photovoltaic systems, electric vehicles, and the power grid. With the advent of new wide-bandgap devices, the need for soft-switching principles becomes even more acute and assures an ever-increasing and ongoing impact. Divan’s 1993 foundational paper on decentralized control of parallel-connected inverters laid the basis for what is now called grid-forming (GFM) inverters, showing conclusively that a future grid ecosystem with a high penetration of renewables will require advanced inverters, such as GFM inverters, to be stable. He has continued to work actively in this area, showing the control principles needed for assuring stability and interoperability. Researchers worldwide are standing on the shoulders of Divan’s work almost 30 years later.
An IEEE Life Fellow, Divan is Professor, John E Pippin Chair, Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, and Director, Center for Distributed Energy at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.