Andrey Churkin and Juan Carlos Araneda (transmission planning director)
Our Ph.D. student Andrey Churkin was visiting Prof. Enzo Sauma from November 2018 to February 2019, at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. During the internship, Andrey continues developing cost-benefit allocation methods for cross-border power interconnections. Transmission expansion planning and, cross-border interconnections particularly, become an acute topic in South America, where numerous countries with different energy mix may be interconnected to obtain mutual benefits.
Earlier, Andrey had a meeting in Chilean Energy Ministry (División de Prospectiva y Análisis de Impacto Regulatorio), presenting cost-benefit allocation analysis for Northeast Asia. The topic got significant attention by Chilean colleagues, especially by Coordinador Electrico (Electric System Operator) that coordinates the operation of Chilean power systems and performs transmission expansion planning.
The research is a collaboration between Skoltech (professors Janusz Bialek and David Pozo), Institute of Control Sciences (professor Nikolay Korgin), and Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (professor Enzo Sauma). South America would probably be chosen as a case for novel cross-border transmission expansion planning methods testing.