The Department of Electrical Engineering upholds the strategic orientation of "serving the major needs of the country, aiming at the frontiers of international science and technology, and focusing on the hot issues in the industries", takes root in the key directions in the field of power system and energy, and carries out "top-notch" scientific researches. It conducts extremely basic and forward-looking researches; on the other hand, it strives to break through the key issues that restrict the development of the industries in the main battlefield of national economic construction, and pays attention to the diversified horizontal scientific and technological cooperation to promote the transformation of technological achievements. At present, the Department has the State Key Laboratory for Safety Control and Simulation of Power Systems and Large Power Generation Equipment (established jointly with the Department of Thermal Energy), the Research Center for Power and Electronics Engineering of Tsinghua University approved by the Ministry of Education, and the Beijing International Science and Technology Cooperation Base for Green Energy and Power Safety approved by Beijing Municipal Government. In addition, the Department has established joint research institutes and research & development consortia with many famous enterprises at home and abroad.

In 2017, the Department reached the new scale and level of support for vertical scientific research projects, and the number of its high-level papers was up to the highest level in previous years. Fifty-eight vertical projects were newly established, with a total contract value of 149.42 million yuan. Among them, there were 23 key R&D projects with a contract value of 119.2 million yuan. Twenty-nine projects of the National Natural Science Funds had been approved with a total expenditure of 42.85 million yuan. Tsinghua Energy Internet Research Institute has developed vigorously with the deepening strategic cooperation and scientific research with key enterprises in the industry. It kept good cooperation with domestic and foreign enterprises and undertakings, and 131 new horizontal projects were signed with a total contract value of 178.74 million yuan. The number and amount of newly signed contracts ranked first in the Tsinghua University, and the average amount of individual contracts rose sharply. Sichuan Energy Internet Research Institute Tsinghua University (hereinafter referred to as Chengdu Institute) was officially established in March 2016. Ten high-level R&D teams were introduced to bring together 128 high-level talents at home and abroad to declare major projects such as "Research on the Development and Transition Strategy of Sichuan Energy Industry". The Energy Internet Research Institute of Tsinghua University initiated the State Energy Internet Industry and Technological Innovation Alliance, hosted three international energy forums and released the first energy Internet simulation cloud platform. Both Institutes in Beijing and Chengdu have gradually formed a pattern of two wings flying side by side in the flourishing emerging energy Internet discipline.

In 2017, the Department’s 178 SCI papers were published and 135 authorized invention patents were granted, all of which reached an all-time high. It has won 19 awards for various scientific research projects, including 1 prize of National Science and Technology Progress Award, 2 second prizes of National Technology Invention Award and 2 second prizes of National Science and Technology Progress Award. Professors Min Yong and Dong Xinzhou won the second prize of national technical invention in 2017 for their achievements respectively in “on-line analysis and control of damping characteristics of large interconnected power grids” (led by Min Yong) and “key technologies and devices of traveling wave protection for power lines” (led by Dong Xinzhou).

The total scientific research funds of the Department in the past six years are as follows:

The total scientific research funds of the Department in the past six years

(Unit: 10 million yuan)