Innovations in Power Systems Reliability

Electrical power systems are, in general, amongst the most reliable systems worldwide. These large interconnected systems, however, often operate under stressed conditions because of the increasing demand for electricity and the challenges associated with improving the infrastructure due to both economical and environmental issues. Some of the major challenges facing the electricity industry today include balancing between resource adequacy, reliability, economics, environmental and other public purpose objectives to optimize transmission and distribution resources to meet the growing demand. The capability of a power system depends on network constraints, generated power, line currents, nodal voltage amplitudes, and stability margins. If modern or enhanced facilities are not affordable, a renewed effort in assessing and rationalizing the exploitation of the system capability is highly recommended.

Solutions to these complex issues are offered through the integration of modern information and communication technologies with reliable methodologies for power systems analysis. The goal of this book is to provide a vision for a comprehensive and systematic approach to meet the grid management challenges through new information services.