Towards a broader view of research in electric power systems

Summary form only given. System vulnerabilities exist not only during the minute to minute operation of the power system but also from long term environmental and geopolitical concerns with dependence on fossil fuels. It has become increasingly clear that an electric power system based primarily on large thermal power plants under centralized control is not an economically viable or reliable approach to meet future needs. Despite such concerns, there is relatively little sponsored research to support this critical infrastructure. Technologically, there has been significant improvements in the efficiency of alternative and distributed generation sources, including not only "on-grid" sources such as, microturbines, wind farms, and biomass, but also at the watt and micro-watt scales with technologies for energy scavenging and storage to allow consumption off-grid. Rapid developments in these lower power areas contrast with the incremental improvements in the bulk power supply and distribution. This presentation puts forth some suggestions on new research directions that may lead to a more attractive environment for support at all levels through the cross-fertilization of research at the macro and micro-scales. The electricity supply of the future certainly operates with a greater diversity of sources and demand, and be called on to supply power to critical services with extremely high reliability. Power system university programs would be well-advised to incorporate developments at all scales into their curriculum for the longer term health of research and education in our field. This talk overviews some of the on-going research at NSF and makes suggestions for new areas of research needed to enable these research directions