Research needs for the intelligent grid of the future

Summary form only given. The Northeast US blackout, and the after effects of Hurricane Katrina, remind us of our critical dependence on reliable electric supply. This concern arises both from the minute to minute operations of the system and from the long term environmental and geopolitical concerns with dependence on fossil fuels. It has become increasingly clear that an electric power system based primarily on large thermal power plants under centralized control will be inadequate to meet future needs. Fortunately, there has been great improvements in the efficiency of alternative and distributed generation sources, including not only "on-grid" sources such as, microturbines, wind farms, and bio mass, but also energy scavenging and storage techniques to allow consumption off-grid. The grid of the future will need to operate with this great diversity of sources and demand, yet still be able to respond robustly to any disturbances. This talk overviews some of the on-going research at NSF and makes suggestions for new areas of research needed to enable this power system of the future