Author_Institution :
Silicon Power Corp., Malvern, PA, USA
Abstract :
The United States National Grid Infrastructure, its transmission, its distribution, its security and its controls, rely on equipment dating back to the 19th Century. In the last 17 years, it became painfully apparent that these legacy systems could not support the ever-increasing demand for energy, regardless of the energy generation source: wind, solar, geothermal, hydro or nuclear. These legacy infrastructure systems are aging rapidly and are directly responsible for increasing costs of operation, maintenance and directly contributing to down-stream failures, an unsustainable condition. With recent achievements, enhancements and maturity of power semiconductors devices and applicable systems by industry leaders, economically viable options to upgrade this critical infrastructure are market ready today. When properly planned, these scalable solid-state systems will seamlessly integrate into our national electrical energy infrastructure, support smart-grid technology, increase security, increase capacity, reduce environmental concerns and reduce operational and maintenance costs.
Keywords :
distribution networks; power semiconductor devices; power system security; smart power grids; transmission networks; United States National Grid Infrastructure; advanced power processor; energy generation source; geothermal power; hydro power; national electrical energy infrastructure; nuclear power; power distribution; power semiconductor devices; power transmission; smart-grid technology; solar power; solid-state systems; utility grid infrastructure; wind power; Aging; Costs; Geothermal power generation; National security; Nuclear power generation; Power semiconductor devices; Power system security; Solar power generation; Wind energy; Wind energy generation;