The Power Systems Engineering Research Center (PSERC)

PSERC is a multi-university research consortium that currently includes eleven universities and some forty companies from the electric power industry. The Center operates under a National Science Foundation grant and includes in its list of members the US Department of Energy (DoE) and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). It is a collaboratory of university, industry and government people interested in solving current problems facing the electric power industry. PSERC is especially interested in technical problems associated with the new institutional arrangements that are occurring under a restructured industry. The Center is researching issues such as how to simulate power systems under bidding (offers), how to quantify planning and operational limits, how to operate a power system reliably and securely while increasing competitive interplay, how to implement and operate needed information networks, operation under an ISO, an RTO, or other possible scenarios. PSERC is a university-industry collaboration addressing challenges facing the new electric power industry as it restructures to a competitive business environment.