Powering the next millennium with power electronics

Reliable electrical power is a cornerstone of modern society. Power electronics is the key technology for enabling renewable power generation, steering power through the transmission and distribution network, dispatching distributed generation, and improving load-side efficiency. Looking forward the authors see photovoltaic arrays, with integrated converters and coupled energy storage devices, as a primary world-wide energy source. Although market and political forces will dictate the demand for power electronics, they can see several developing trends: power quality correction devices will fill the gap between reliable bulk power and the reality of lower power quality on distribution systems. Voltage source inverters, now a commodity, will continue to be replaced by soft-switching inverters which inherently avoid the problems of EMI and dv/dt-caused motor damage. Modular soft-switching inverters will be tomorrow´s building block, even for multi-megawatt inverters and rectifiers. The underlying trend will continue to be cost reduction through modular construction and increased manufacturing volume