The changing face of electric power systems: Teaching for a challenging future

Abstract

When will the next big blackout be? How secure is our electric power system? Will we be re-regulating the electric power industry? Will we each have a fuel cell in our backyard to generate the power we consume? The generation and delivery of electric power has changed significantly in the last decade, and will continue to change in the next decade. The deregulation of electric utilities, the continuing need for environmentally friendly systems, the increasing use of limited natural resources, the technical innovations in the design and simulation of power systems, the need for "quality" power, and the potential of very small generating plants (micro-turbines, fuel cells, etc.) in or near load centers have begun to effect the generation and delivery of electric power in ways previously not envisioned. The California crisis of the last few years, the blackouts in the northeast in the summer of 2003 and the continuing blackouts across the world have brought the electric generation, transmission and distribution network back into world engineering and political thought and debate. This paper will summarize the yearlong study undertaken during a sabbatical leave for the purpose of determining the future of electric power systems and how this will impact the courses in electric power systems at the Rochester Institute of Technology.