The Electric Grid Part I: What is it? [video]
Authors
Brown, Merwin
Subjects
Advisors
Date of Issue
2017-05-19
Date
May 19, 2017
Publisher
Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California
Language
en_US
Abstract
This presentation is the first part of a two-part lecture that will examine today’s electric grid. It will highlight significant events and trends in the electric industry community that over the last 5 decades exerted a compounding influence of growing complexities and uncertainties for our electric institutions, and their infrastructure and its operation. The “smart grid” has become a must for keeping the lights on and electricity prices in check for the early 21st century. The reasons have their roots in trends that started in the 1960s in the electricity industry, largely driven by energy-related public policies responding to changing circumstances in the environment, economics, fuel supplies, technologies and electricity usage practices. By the end of the 20th century, the way in which electric systems were planned, owned, built, operated, regulated, used, and bought and paid for would never be the same. The 21st century electric grid owner, operator, planner and regulator face growing uncertainty, complexity, inadequacy, conflict, and the need for flexibility, robustness, real-time situation awareness, probabilistic forecasting, and rapid response. No longer can the grid planners and owners “build” their way out of these problems using traditional wires, towers and power plants alone. New technologies will be needed to make grid planning, permitting, building, and operating easier and less costly, especially technologies that make the grid smarter. The choice in the late 19th century of the alternating current (AC) electric grid, which was promoted by Westinghouse and Tesla and became the grid of the 20th century (instead of the direct current (DC) grid championed by Edison) was enabled by the emerging electric transformer technology. Similarly, the emergence of electronic technology today, fortuitously about the time the problematic trends began for the 20th century grid, is enabling the the type of smart grid needed for the 21st century.
Type
Video
Description
NPS Defense Energy Seminar, Dr. Merwin Brown
Series/Report No
Department
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funder
Format
Duration: 1:26:08 Filesize: 1.91 GB
Citation
Distribution Statement
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.