FINALLY!!!! - There is a book written about the electric power grid and how it is operated, that you can enjoy, and learn a great deal from. This book offers the reader an understandable explanation of what is occurring every second of every day on the electric power grid. There are many books about the power grid that are explanations suited for advanced industry experts or electrical engineering students. In fact, several of them are listed in one section of this book. However, this book offers the only explanation I am aware of that will appeal to a large audience ranging from your friend next door, to men and women in the industry who want to know more about how their job function fits in with all the other parts of the grid. It is written using more than 200 years of accumulated power grid operations experience from me, and five or six colleagues I used for advice and opinions. I am certain guys like Norm, Cliffy, Sammy and possibly even Woody would have a much better understanding of the power grid after reading this book. When you read it, you will learn about subjects such as: historical blackouts, what power grid operators are watching, the effects of Super Bowl Sunday and Christmas lights on the grid, the electric grid in Japan, and many, many other items of interest. If you've ever been curious what it costs to run some of the appliances in your home, you are looking at the right book, because that is explained as well. It is enjoyable to read, will someday make you look like a genius, and is guaranteed to make you laugh a few times while you read it. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

This book brings together successful stories of deployment of synchrophasor technology in managing the power grid. The authors discuss experiences with large scale deployment of Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) in power systems across the world, enabling readers to take this technology into control center operations and develop good operational procedures to manage the grid better, with wide area visualization tools using PMU data.

Americans' safety, productivity, comfort, and convenience depend on the reliable supply of electric power. The electric power system is a complex "cyber-physical" system composed of a network of millions of components spread out across the continent. These components are owned, operated, and regulated by thousands of different entities. Power system operators work hard to assure safe and reliable service, but large outages occasionally happen. Given the nature of the system, there is simply no way that outages can be completely avoided, no matter how much time and money is devoted to such an effort. The system's reliability and resilience can be improved but never made perfect. Thus, system owners, operators, and regulators must prioritize their investments based on potential benefits. Enhancing the Resilience of the Nation's Electricity System focuses on identifying, developing, and implementing strategies to increase the power system's resilience in the face of events that can cause large-area, long-duration outages: blackouts that extend over multiple service areas and last several days or longer. Resilience is not just about lessening the likelihood that these outages will occur. It is also about limiting the scope and impact of outages when they do occur, restoring power rapidly afterwards, and learning from these experiences to better deal with events in the future.

Utilities and power grids may seem complex, yet this book will guide you easily through the mysteries. In this book you will learn the basic operations of utilities and the basic operations of grids. You will learn how power is traded in the power markets. You will learn how utilities and grids maintain quality control, including how they monitor the flow of power and how they make adjustments as needed. You will learn how power failures occur and how we can minimize power failures in the future. You will also learn a great deal about the future of power distribution, particularly in the areas of distributed generation and smart grids. No technical background is required; this book will explain everything you need to know about the operation of utilities and power grids in a way that any reader can understand. This book is designed for policy-makers, community activists, and curious citizens. This book is also designed as an essential reference for energy technology students and for anyone working in the electrical power industry. 10.1 Utility Company Operation Basics The first chapter provides an overview of utility operation, focusing on quality control for utilities. This chapter discusses in detail how to ensure that there is enough power to meet demand at any given time. 10.2 Monitoring and Communications Systems The second chapter discusses monitoring and communication systems. This chapter explains the SCADA system, including the components and operation. This chapter also explains the types of translation devices and the options for communication methods. 10.3 Quality Control for Utilities causes, effects, and protection against significant variations for each factor. 10.4 Basic Concepts of Grids Chapter four provides a broad perspective of grids, with further clarification by comparing grids to the highway system. You will learn the possible players in a grid and their roles. You will learn the jobs of the grid manager. A major section of this chapter is where you will learn the advantages and disadvantages of grids, followed by an overview of an ideal grid system. 10.5 Grid Operations In chapter five we go step by step through the sequence of grid operations. By the end of this chapter you will understand the details of grid operation, including several common variations. 10.6 Quality Control for Grids Chapter six discusses grid failures and quality control for grids. In this chapter you will learn how blackouts occur and how we can prevent them. The majority of chapter six provides detailed explanations of how to maintain quality control in any grid system, and thereby prevent power outages. You will learn about reliability oversight organizations such as NERC, FERC, and ERO. You will also learn the major sections of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (most of which relate to reliability). 10.7 Smart Grids Chapter seven discusses "Smart Grids." There are numerous technologies associated with the term "smart grid," therefore chapter seven begins with an overview of smart grids, followed by an overview of smart grid technologies. Much of this chapter is devoted to the proper and improper uses of smart grid technologies. 10.8 The Future of Electrical Distribution The final chapter discusses the future of electrical distribution. This is a very important chapter because the paths we take when developing power distribution systems will affect our safety, reliability, and economic security for many years. Therefore, this chapter explains the visions for the future of electrical distribution, followed by detailed descriptions. This chapter also discusses some additional features which are valuable for the ideal future of electrical distribution.

Here is a timely resource that gives you an insightful business perspective on electric systems operations, revealing how this area is critical to a utility's ability to provide reliable power to its customers. The book presents a thorough definition system operations, identifying and explaining the various systems that support this function and how they integrate into the utility. You discover how a utility's network operation is a key contributor to the viable sustainment of its business. The book presents the convergence of the systems used in the grid operations of today and addresses the emerging needs of the smart grid operations of tomorrow. You learn how system operations help to ensure the right levels of safety, reliability and efficiency in everything that relates to transmission and distribution grid management. The book discusses important technologically intensive systems -- like EMS, DMS -- that function inside the control center. Additionally, you are introduced to DEMS -- an emerging system which has been designed to help utilities provide better services to customers, and enable customers to become an integral part of the overall utility system.

Written by a leading expert in the field, this practical book offers a comprehensive understanding of the impact of extreme weather and the possible effects of climate change on the power grid. The impact and restoration of floods, winter storms, wind storms, and hurricanes as well as the effects of heat waves and dry spells on thermal power plants is explained in detail. This book explores proven practices for successful restoration of the power grid, increased system resiliency, and ride-through after extreme weather and provides readers with examples from super storm Sandy. This book presents the effects of lack of ground moisture on transmission line performance and gives an overview of line insulation coordination, stress-strength analysis, and tower insulation strength, and then provides readers with tangible solutions. Structural hardening of power systems against storms, including wind pressure, wood poles, and vegetation management is covered. Moreover, this book provides suggestions for practical implementations to improve future smart grid resiliency.

Explains the economics of electricity at each step of the supply chain: production, transportation and distribution, and retail.

The electric power delivery system that carries electricity from large central generators to customers could be severely damaged by a small number of well-informed attackers. The system is inherently vulnerable because transmission lines may span hundreds of miles, and many key facilities are unguarded. This vulnerability is exacerbated by the fact that the power grid, most of which was originally designed to meet the needs of individual vertically integrated utilities, is being used to move power between regions to support the needs of competitive markets for power generation. Primarily because of ambiguities introduced as a result of recent restricting the of the industry and cost pressures from consumers and regulators, investment to strengthen and upgrade the grid has lagged, with the result that many parts of the bulk high-voltage system are heavily stressed. Electric systems are not designed to withstand or quickly recover from damage inflicted simultaneously on multiple components. Such an attack could be carried out by knowledgeable attackers with little risk of detection or interdiction. Further well-planned and coordinated attacks by terrorists could leave the electric power system in a large region of the country at least partially disabled for a very long time. Although there are many examples of terrorist and military attacks on power systems elsewhere in the world, at the time of this study international terrorists have shown limited interest in attacking the U.S. power grid. However, that should not be a basis for complacency. Because all parts of the economy, as well as human health and welfare, depend on electricity, the results could be devastating. Terrorism and the Electric Power Delivery System focuses on measures that could make the power delivery system less vulnerable to attacks, restore power faster after an attack, and make critical services less vulnerable while the delivery of conventional electric power has been disrupted.

The Power Grid: Smart, Secure, Green and Reliable offers a diverse look at the traditional engineering and physics aspects of power systems, also examining the issues affecting clean power generation, power distribution, and the new security issues that could potentially affect the availability and reliability of the grid. The book looks at growth in new loads that are consuming over 1% of all the electrical power produced, and how combining those load issues of getting power to the regions experiencing growth in energy demand can be addressed. In addition, it considers the policy issues surrounding transmission line approval by regulators. With truly multidisciplinary content, including failure analysis of various systems, photovoltaic, wind power, quality issues with clean power, high-voltage DC transmission, electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetic interference, privacy concerns, and data security, this reference is relevant to anyone interested in the broad area of power grid stability. - Discusses state–of-the-art trends and issues in power grid reliability - Offers guidance on purchasing or investing in new technologies - Includes a technical document relevant to public policy that can help all stakeholders understand the technical issues facing a green, secure power grid

The Updated Third Edition Provides a Systems Approach to Sustainable Green Energy Production and Contains Analytical Tools for the Design of Renewable Microgrids The revised third edition of Design of Smart Power Grid Renewable Energy Systems integrates three areas of electrical engineering: power systems, power electronics, and electric energy conversion systems. The book also addresses the fundamental design of wind and photovoltaic (PV) energy microgrids as part of smart-bulk power-grid systems. In order to demystify the complexity of the integrated approach, the author first presents the basic concepts, and then explores a simulation test bed in MATLAB® in order to use these concepts to solve a basic problem in the development of smart grid energy system. Each chapter offers a problem of integration and describes why it is important. Then the mathematical model of the problem is formulated, and the solution steps are outlined. This step is followed by developing a MATLAB® simulation test bed. This important book: Reviews the basic principles underlying power systems Explores topics including: AC/DC rectifiers, DC/AC inverters, DC/DC converters, and pulse width modulation (PWM) methods Describes the fundamental concepts in the design and operation of smart grid power grids Supplementary material includes a solutions manual and PowerPoint presentations for instructors Written for undergraduate and graduate students in electric power systems engineering, researchers, and industry professionals, the revised third edition of Design of Smart Power Grid Renewable Energy Systems is a guide to the fundamental concepts of power grid integration on microgrids of green energy sources.