A COMPREHENSIVE LOOK IN LAYMAN'S TERMS AT THE MANY ASPECTS OF THE PROVISION OF ELECTRIC POWER, BY TWO VETERAN EXECUTIVES AND RESPECTED EXPERTS Technological advances and changes in government policy and regulation have altered the electric power industry in recent years and will continue to impact it for quite some time. Fully updated with the latest changes to regulation, structure, and technology, this new edition of Understanding Electric Power Systems offers a real-world view of the industry, explaining how it operates, how it is structured, and how electricity is regulated and priced. It includes extensive references for the reader and will be especially useful to lawyers, government officials, regulators, engineers, and students, as well as the general public. The book explains the physical functioning of electric power systems, the electric power business in today's environment, and the related institutions, including recent changes in the roles of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the North American Reliability Company. Significant changes that are affecting the industry are covered in this new edition, including: The expanded role of the federal government in the planning and operation of the nation's electric utilities New energy laws and a large number of FERC regulations implementing these laws Concerns over global warming and potential impacts on the electric industry Pressures for expansion of the electric grid and the implementation of "smart-grid" technologies The growing importance of various energy-storage technologies and renewable energy sources New nuclear generation technologies The 2009 economic stimulus package

Contains all the formal opinions and accompanying orders of the Federal Power Commission ... In addition to the formal opinions, there have been included intermediate decisions which have become final and selected orders of the Commission issued during such period.

The electric power delivery system that carries electricity from large central generators to customers could be severely damaged by a small number of well-informed attackers. The system is inherently vulnerable because transmission lines may span hundreds of miles, and many key facilities are unguarded. This vulnerability is exacerbated by the fact that the power grid, most of which was originally designed to meet the needs of individual vertically integrated utilities, is being used to move power between regions to support the needs of competitive markets for power generation. Primarily because of ambiguities introduced as a result of recent restricting the of the industry and cost pressures from consumers and regulators, investment to strengthen and upgrade the grid has lagged, with the result that many parts of the bulk high-voltage system are heavily stressed. Electric systems are not designed to withstand or quickly recover from damage inflicted simultaneously on multiple components. Such an attack could be carried out by knowledgeable attackers with little risk of detection or interdiction. Further well-planned and coordinated attacks by terrorists could leave the electric power system in a large region of the country at least partially disabled for a very long time. Although there are many examples of terrorist and military attacks on power systems elsewhere in the world, at the time of this study international terrorists have shown limited interest in attacking the U.S. power grid. However, that should not be a basis for complacency. Because all parts of the economy, as well as human health and welfare, depend on electricity, the results could be devastating. Terrorism and the Electric Power Delivery System focuses on measures that could make the power delivery system less vulnerable to attacks, restore power faster after an attack, and make critical services less vulnerable while the delivery of conventional electric power has been disrupted.

Americans' safety, productivity, comfort, and convenience depend on the reliable supply of electric power. The electric power system is a complex "cyber-physical" system composed of a network of millions of components spread out across the continent. These components are owned, operated, and regulated by thousands of different entities. Power system operators work hard to assure safe and reliable service, but large outages occasionally happen. Given the nature of the system, there is simply no way that outages can be completely avoided, no matter how much time and money is devoted to such an effort. The system's reliability and resilience can be improved but never made perfect. Thus, system owners, operators, and regulators must prioritize their investments based on potential benefits. Enhancing the Resilience of the Nation's Electricity System focuses on identifying, developing, and implementing strategies to increase the power system's resilience in the face of events that can cause large-area, long-duration outages: blackouts that extend over multiple service areas and last several days or longer. Resilience is not just about lessening the likelihood that these outages will occur. It is also about limiting the scope and impact of outages when they do occur, restoring power rapidly afterwards, and learning from these experiences to better deal with events in the future.