The electric power industry is evolving from its historical business structure. The vertically integrated utility of the past has been replaced by multiple players providing unbundled services using market-oriented decision-making. Challenges for success in this demanding business environment are being raised by new market structures and ways of doing business, new technologies, the demands of customers for customized services, strategic choices between centralized and decentralized technologies, institutional changes creating mega-RTOs, a graying industry that needs well-trained power engineers, and new environmental priorities. Yet the basic function of the industry – to produce and to deliver power, safely and reliably – has not changed. The challenges call for new strategies, technologies, analytical capabilities and tools, and operating practices, along with sound public policy guidance.

The Power Systems Engineering Research Center (PSERC) draws on university capabilities to creatively address these challenges. Under the banner of PSERC, multiple U.S. universities are working collaboratively with industry to:

• engage in forward-thinking about future scenarios for the  industry and the challenges that might arise from them
• conduct research for innovative solutions to these challenges using multidisciplinary research expertise in a unique multi-campus work environment
• facilitate interchange of ideas and collaboration among academia, industry and government on critical industry issues
• educate the next generation of power industry engineers.

PSERC provides:

• efficient access to experienced university researchers in an array of relevant disciplines and geographically located across the U.S.
• leading-edge research in cost-effective projects jointly developed by industry leaders and university experts
• high quality education of future power engineers.

The multidisciplinary expertise of PSERC’s researchers includes power systems, applied mathematics, complex systems, computing, control theory, power electronics, operations research, non-linear systems, economics, industrial organization and public policy. PSERC partners with private and public organizations that provide integrated energy services, transmission and distribution services, power system planning, control and oversight, market management services, and public policy development.

The undergraduate and graduate power programs at PSERC’s collaborating universities produce engineers capable of making substantive contributions in today’s complex power industry. By taking innovative research findings to the classroom and involving students in our research, PSERC faculty introduce students to the cutting edge of power system technologies, analytical techniques and industry practices. Not only does PSERC help students become technically prepared for their next job, it also assures that they will be knowledgeable about the challenges and trends transforming the industry. PSERC also facilitates efficient employment searches through industry-student interactions at industry meetings, student involvement in PSERC projects, web site postings, and email announcements.

PSERC’s education program also includes professional development. Through short courses, monthly Internet seminars, and on-site seminars, PSERC meets continuing education needs of engineers from our industrial partners. The PSERC website has tutorials, analysis tools and recorded seminars along with papers, reports and presentations by its researchers.

PSERC’s comprehensive research program spans markets, transmission and distribution technologies, and systems to find opportunities for advancing high performance electric power systems through innovative and collaborative research. The research program is divided into three distinct, but inter-related research stems. A list current and past research projects can be viewed by clicking on Research Projects.

Markets Research Stem
Markets research focuses on market design, verification and validation within the context of electricity market restructuring. Representative research topics are active load participation, auction policies and strategies, market mechanisms, restructured market assessment and transmission asset valuation. Markets research includes experimental methods to test and verify the performance of alternative market designs. PowerWeb is an Internet-based simulation developed for experiments and education on power markets.

Transmission and Distribution Technologies Research Stem
This research improves performance of T&D systems by finding new applications for innovative technologies. Representative research topics are automation, intelligent devices and control concepts, management of an aging infrastructure, protection systems, stability and dynamic limits, substation data integration and functionality, and state estimation.

Systems Research Stem 
Systems research seeks ways to increase use, efficiency and reliability of increasingly complex and dynamic power systems. Representative research topics are cascading events, complex systems, computational methods for large systems, control schemes, distribution system reliability, risk assessment, security assessment, transfer limits and visualization.

Research Stem Committees
Each research stem has a committee that organizes its research activities. Industrial members join researchers as stem committee members to set research directions, organize projects, and facilitate high quality research. The current stem committee chairs are:

• Markets: Richard E. Schuler, Chair, Cornell University; Mark Sanford, Vice Chair, GE Energy

• Transmission and Distribution Technologies: Gerald T. Heydt, Arizona State University;
  Robert Saint, Vice Chair, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association

• Systems: Jim McCalley, Iowa State University; Mahendra Patel, Vice Chair, PJM Interconnection

Leveraged Research Projects
Through collaboration, PSERC conducts research that leverages the industrial support it receives from its members. Here are two examples.

• Consortium for Electric Reliability Technology Solutions (CERTS), formed in 1998 to research, develop and commercialize new methods, tools and technologies to protect and enhance the reliability of the U.S. electric power system. CERTS is conducting research for the U.S. Department of Energy's Transmission Reliability Program and for the California Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research Program. PSERC faculty are working with researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories and several energy businesses.
• By working with industry under the NSF Research Centers - Small Firms Collaborative R&D initiative, and with funding and advice from PSERC's industrial members, PSERC researchers formed a research team to develop more accurate ways to compute the maximum power that can be transferred in power systems and to quickly estimate how this maximum power can be increased by adjusting power system controls. One result of the project is an interactive calculator and tutorial that fosters better understanding of limits to power transfers.

As a National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center, PSERC partners with industry to advance the knowledge needed to address the challenges facing the industry and to educate the students that will become the next generation of power engineers. PSERC membership is open to companies, government agencies, associations and other organizations with interests in the electric power industry. Current members come from many different industry sectors. PSERC provides its industry members:

• Collaboration with leading university researchers
• Networking opportunities with industry, government and university
• Means for attracting students to the industry and for recruiting them
• Business opportunities for commercialization of intellectual property
• Education and professional development, such as through workshops, short courses and on-line seminars.

Industrial Advisory Board
An Industrial Advisory Board provides the critical linkage between industrial members and PSERC. The Board:

• Works with the universities to identify research and education needs
• Prioritizes projects and recommends project funding levels
• Reviews research results
• Addresses PSERC business and policy matters.

The current Board officers are Jay Giri (AREVA T&D), Chair, and Floyd Galvan (Entergy), Vice-Chair. The Industrial Advisory Board meets twice annually. At the meetings, industrial members conduct Board business, meet researchers and students from the member universities, hear progress reports on research projects, engage in current issue discussions with researchers and other industrial members, and advance their professional development through tutorials.

Illinois
(Peter Sauer)

Iowa State
(Jim McCalley)

Texas A&M
(Mladen Kezunovic)

Washington State
(Anjan Bose)

Wichita State
(Ward Jewell)

Wisconsin
(Chris DeMarco) 

The following information is available on PSERC’s website. By clicking on titles, you will be linked to a document or website folder. Many of the documents are PDF so you will need an Adobe Acrobat viewer to access them.

PSERC Overview: Describes PSERC, and lists its completed and on-going research projects.

Power Point Presentation on PSERC: Provides an overview of PSERC and its value to members.

Researcher Profiles: Gives research interests and other information about PSERC researchers.

Research Program: Describes PSERC’s research program and projects.

Documents on the PSERC Website: Gives links to a number of research papers and reports, presentations and research seminars (including web casts). Also provides more details about PSERC.

Search PSERC’s Website: Provides a search engine for PSERC’s web site.

Power Systems Engineering Research Center
Arizona State University
577 Engineering Research Center
Box 878606
Tempe, AZ 85287-8606
Phone: 480-965-1643
FAX: 480-965-0745
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