Rodney Itiki

Bio

I am currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate in ORNL’s Power Systems Resilience group within the Energy Systems Integration & Control Section, Electrification and Energy Infrastructures Division, Energy Science and Technology Directorate, focusing on power system resilience and collaborating with industry, national labs, and academic members on research related to energy systems. I earned my PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2023 and hold a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of São Paulo, Brazil. I served 19+ years in engineering companies (WorleyParsons, CNEC and Frontenge Engineering), with extensive experience with electrical design and specification of gas and hydropower plants, chemical facilities, mining, offshore platforms, and general industries. My research interests include Electrical Engineering (power systems), grid integration, renewables, wind power, HVDC, super grids, transmission systems, electric vehicles (EV), power electronics applications, offshore power systems, submarine cables, marine hydrokinetic turbines, extreme weather models (hurricanes), pumped storage hydro and electromagnetic transient (EMT) component modeling.

Professional Experience

• Oct 2, 2023 – present: Postdoc Research Associate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (DOE's national laboratory)

Activities

Research and Development on Renewables, Energy Storage, and Grid Integration, including Electromagnetic Transients (EMT), differential and algebraic equations, components EMT modeling, numerical methods, and Pumped storage hydro (PSH), North America grid resilience, wind, solar PV, and hurricanes, MatLab, C++, offshore power systems, Super Grids, High Voltage (HVDC).  

Workshops: 

2024 Collaboration Workshop poster presentation: "Method for Spatiotemporal Solar Power Profile Estimation for a Proposed US–Caribbean–South America Super Grid under Hurricanes". 

2024 EMT Workshop showcase on Station 2: "Real-time Capability of the RE_INTEGRATE code base using algorithms".  

Publication: 

Rodney Itiki, Nils Stenvig, Teja Kuruganti, and Silvio Giuseppe Di Santo. 2024. "Method for Spatiotemporal Solar Power Profile Estimation for a Proposed U.S.–Caribbean–South America Super Grid under Hurricanes" Energies 17, no. 7: 1545. https://doi.org/10.3390/en17071545

• 2018 – May 2023: Teaching and Research Assistant of Power System Eng. at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Activities

Assistance to undergraduate students in completing the design and assembly of electronic printed circuit boards using cad software Eagle, and evaluation of their performance in the assignments.

Development of computer models in MatLab for simulation of power systems with offshore wind turbines, marine hydrokinetic turbines, microgrids, and super grids. Teaching assistant of: Electrical Energy Conversion, Electromagnetic & Electronic Devices Lab, ECE Junior Design (Eagle software for Printed Circuit Board PCB Design), System Analysis II (Laplace, root locus, stability), and Introduction to Machine Learning (Python, PyTorch).

• 2016 – 2018: Research assistant of Electric Power System Engineering at the University of São Paulo USP, Brazil

Activity

Development of computer models in PSCAD for simulation of electric power plants in maritime platforms, and research thesis writing.

• 2000 - 2015 Electrical Engineer VI with CNEC WorleyParsons, Brazil

Design of power generation and distribution system in medium voltage (up to 18 kV), low voltage (up to 480Vac and 125Vdc), single line diagrams in Autocad or Microstation, three-line diagrams, diagrams for interconnection of measurement, control, and protection panels, cable sizing, cable list, substation electrical room layout. Assessment of existing field conditions, engineering documents search, and as-built survey. Supervision of electrical designers for schematic diagrams, cable tray layout, grounding and lightning protection plant, lighting plant, electrical material takeoff, and cable cut schedule. I was a specialist in charge of power system studies (simulation of short circuit, load flow, motor starting, battery sizing, capacitor bank sizing, harmonics studies, protection coordination, relay settings in PTW of SKM). For my protection coordination studies, I have some brief experience with digital relays from SEL, ABB (REF), Siemens (7SJ), and GE Multilin. I wrote technical specifications of step-up transformers, generator circuit-breakers, HV substation, stepdown transformers, 13.8kV, 4.16kV and 480V switchgear, 480Vac motor control centers, LV switchboards for 220Va/110Vac, and the HV switchyard and substation package, and scope of work statement. I prepared drawings of the hazardous area classification plan. I prepared a Technical Bid Evaluation of MV and LV electrical equipment and evaluated and made comments on vendors' documents. I provided technical assistance to field assembly and construction. I provided training and supervision of junior engineers and designers. I performed quality control of engineering documents produced by the designers. I elaborated proposals for engineering services with workforce estimates and expected delivery time/cost. I conducted remote technical assistance to the field assembly and construction. I was also in charge of collecting relevant data from mechanical, civil, piping, process engineering, and standards of the client for the electrical design of the EPC project. Reason for leaving the company: Layoff due to sharp drop in oil prices, and economic recession in Oil & Gas sector in Brazil.

Engineering Design Projects

Statoil Peregrinno Fixed Offshore Platform (4x8000 kW) - LONDON WorleyParsons Office - conceptual and Front End Engineering Design (FEED) during eight months. (Short circuit, load flow, and harmonics studies)

Statoil Peregrinno Fixed Offshore Platform A & B (3 x 3000 kW + 500kW revamp), Front End Loading (FEL3) design.

Petrobras Piratininga combined cycle power plant (616 MW) in São Paulo, Brazil. 5 months in Houston, TX (USA) at Parsons Energy and Chemical Group.

Petrobras Baixada Fluminense Combined Cycle Power Plant (2x214 MVA+230 MVA). (Short circuit, load flow, and coordination and selectivity of protection devices studies)

Petrobras Offsite of Diesel Additive Blending Project of RPBC refinery (2x750 kVA).

Petrobras Hydrodesulfurization/Diethanolamine and Hydrotreatment of Naphta Unit of RPBC refinery (15 MVA).

Petrobras FEED Hydrogen generation and Diesel treatment Unit, Henrique Lage Refinery.

Petrobras FEED Liquefied Petroleum Gas Treatment Unit, Cacimbas and Mexilhão.

Petrobras Combined cycle power plant on Cubatão (300 MVA), and Termoaçu (320 MW). (Short circuit, load flow, and relay coordination and selectivity of protection devices studies)

Light Nilo Peçanha Hydropower Plant (400 MVA) modernization Brazil, Alcoa Juruti Bauxite Mining Facility in Pará, Brazil. Electrical design engineer

• 1996 - 2000 Electrical Engineer with Frontenge Engenharia Ltda, Brazil

Engineering Design Projects

CBPI Oil Company – Design of Gasoline storage and distribution base.,

BASF Chemical - Design of electrical power distribution system of chemical facilities

Education

Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with emphasis on Power Systems (Methods for Spatiotemporal Power Profile from Marine Hydro-Kinetic Energy, and Wind Energy from a Proposed U.S.-Caribbean-South America Super Grid under Hurricanes), 2018 – 2023.

Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (Power System), at University of São Paulo, Brazil, 2016 – 2017.

Postgrad Specialization Course on Project Management with emphasis on Engineering, Getulio Vargas Foundation, 432 hours, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2007 – 2008.

Bachelor in Accounting at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, 1996 – 2003.

Bachelor in Electrical Engineering with emphasis on Electrical Energy and Automation, at the Polytechnic School of University of São Paulo, Brazil, 1991 – 1995. (TOP 1 university in Brazil, TOP 14 BRICS).

Entrance Exam Preparatory Course, Anglo Tamandare, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 1989 - 1990.

High School at Colegio Meninopolis (Catholic school), Sao Paulo, Brazil, 1987 - 1989.

Professional Affiliations

CREA-SP: Counsel of Engineering and Architecture of the State of Sao Paulo - Brazil

IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering - Member in good standing

Specialized Equipment

SPECIFIC TECHNICAL EXPERTISE/SPECIALIST COURSES

• PTW SKM and ETAP (for power system simulation in engineering companies)
• PSCAD, and PSSE/SINCAL from Siemens (electrical power simulation in academia and research)
• AutoCAD / MicroStation (for 2D drawing of diagrams, substation layout, power distribution plants)
• EAGLE (design of printed circuit boards for research or power electronic industry)
• MATLAB script (95%), C++ (3%) and Python (2%) (for research coding)
• VISIO (for figures in articles) and MS OFFICE (Excel, Word, Access, Power Point).

Publications

Other Publications