Power system engineering challenges in the new millennium

The electricity industry is in the middle of its greatest upheaval since Edison began the operation of the Pearl Street Station in 1882. The turbulence caused by the restructuring of the power industry is presenting power system practitioners with unprecedented new opportunities and challenges. At the same time, the pace of development in technology has never been more rapid. The harnessing of new technology has become an absolute necessity in dealing effectively with the myriad changes facing the industry. As the industry transitions from the regulated monopoly structure to various new and untried paradigms, there is a wide spectrum of heretofore unsolved problems in all areas of power systems engineering. These problems range from power system planning to power system operations, from network problem in the high voltage grid to those in distribution systems, from analysis of economic aspects of various new structures to the effective application of information technology advancements, and from applications of intelligent systems to the development of risk management tools in the new competitive environment.