Spring 2010 THE ELECTRICITY GRID The BRIDGE LINKING ENGIN ee RING AND SOCI E TY The Impact of Renewable Resources on the Performance and Reliability of the Electricity Grid Vijay Vittal Securing the Electricity Grid S. Massoud Amin New Products and Services for the Electric Power Industry Clark W. Gellings Energy Independence: Can the U.S. Finally Get It Right? John F. Caskey Educating the Workforce for the Modern Electric Power System: University–Industry Collaboration B. Don Russell The Smart Grid: A Bridge between Emerging Technologies, Society, and the Environment Richard E. Schuler Promoting the technological welfare of the nation by marshalling the knowledge and insights of eminent members of the engineering profession. The BRIDGE NatiOnaL AcaDemY OF Engineering Irwin M. Jacobs, Chair Charles M. Vest, President Maxine L. Savitz, Vice President Thomas F. Budinger, Home Secretary George Bugliarello, Foreign Secretary C.D. (Dan) Mote Jr., Treasurer Editor in Chief (interim): George Bugliarello Managing Editor: Carol R. Arenberg Production Assistant: Penelope Gibbs The Bridge (ISSN 0737-6278) is published quarterly by the National Aca- demy of Engineering, 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20418. Periodicals postage paid at Washington, DC. Vol. 40, No. 1, Spring 2010 Postmaster: Send address changes to The Bridge, 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20418. Papers are presented in The Bridge on the basis of general interest and time- liness. They reflect the views of the authors and not necessarily the position of the National Academy of Engineering. The Bridge is printed on recycled paper. © 2010 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. A complete copy of The Bridge is available in PDF format at http://www.nae.edu/TheBridge. Some of the articles in this issue are also available as HTML documents and may contain links to related sources of information, multimedia files, or other content. The Volume 40, Number 1 • Spring 2010 BRIDGE LINKING ENGIN ee RING AND SOCI E TY Editor’s Note 3 Modernizing and Protecting the Electricity Grid Alan Crane Features 5 The Impact of Renewable Resources on the Performance and Reliability of the Electricity Grid Vijay Vittal Renewable power sources will necessitate advances in the planning and operation of the electric grid. 13 Securing the Electricity Grid S. Massoud Amin The threat of terrorism and other attacks raises profound dilemmas for the electric power industry. 21 New Products and Services for the Electric Power Industry Clark W. Gellings The electricity network of the future will combine power systems, telecommunications, the Internet, and electronic commerce. 29 Energy Independence: Can the U.S. Finally Get It Right? John F. Caskey The United States may finally be moving toward greater energy independence. 35 Educating the Workforce for the Modern Electric Power System: University–Industry Collaboration B. Don Russell The shortage of engineers with experience in emerging technologies has reached crisis proportions. 42 The Smart Grid: A Bridge between Emerging Technologies, Society, and the Environment Richard E. Schuler Electricity networks bridge the gaps between the technological and biological networks on which societies depend. NAE News and Notes 50 Class of 2010 Elected 55 NAE Newsmakers (continued on next page) The BRIDGE 58 NAE Website to Feature Ethics Column 58 Randy Atkins Wins IEEE-USA Award 59 2009 Japan-America Frontiers of Engineering Symposium 60 Mirzayan and CASEE Fellows 61 A Message from NAE Vice President Maxine L. Savitz 63 National Academy of Engineering 2009 Private Contributions 70 Calendar of Events 71 In Memoriam 72 Publications of Interest The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self- The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific Acad­my of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the author- to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility ity of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional char- has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on ter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine. The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, The National Research Council was organized by the National under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its adminis- science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering tration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal gov- accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the ernment. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engi- Council has become the principal operating agency of both the neering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages edu- National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engi- cation and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of neering in providing services to the government, the public, and the engineers. Charles M. Vest is president of the National Academy scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered of Engineering. jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Charles M. Vest are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council. www.national-academies.org Fall 2006 3 Editor’s Note some cases, public opposition delays or stops the con- struction of new lines, which may stretch for hundreds of miles and cross many jurisdictions (NAS, NAE, and NRC, 2009). These issues can and are being addressed. Of greater concern for the future are problems associated with (1) the integration of intermittent renewable resources, such as wind and solar power, and (2) disruptions caused by terrorism or natural disasters. Serious problems will have to be overcome for wind Alan T. Crane and solar electric power to become a large part of the generating capacity of a region, because both provide Modernizing and Protecting the only intermittent power, that is, they operate only when conditions are favorable. Thus the power level Electricity Grid can ramp down rapidly when the wind dies down or the The United States is served by an extraordinarily sun disappears. complex and effective electric system. The three major But electricity has to be supplied continuously. parts of the system—generation, transmission, and dis- Therefore, not only must fast-reacting backup capacity tribution—work together to bring reliable and afford- be available, but the grid has to be able to adapt rap- able electricity to virtually everyone in America, thus idly to changing conditions. Vijay Vittal discusses the providing a service that is essential to the nation’s secu- impact of intermittent renewables on the grid and how rity and well-being. the grid can be modified to handle them. More than 40 percent of all energy consumed in this Terrorism or massive natural disasters could inflict country is used to generate electricity. Electric power considerable damage on critical components of the is generated from a variety of energy sources wherever grid. The physical damage they could do has long been it is convenient and economical and then transmitted understood. However, cyber attacks have received con- to users wherever they may be. The high-voltage trans- siderable attention only recently. The increasing sophis- mission system links generating stations with the lower- tication and ability of hackers and saboteurs to disrupt voltage distribution systems that deliver power to users. service is the subject of an article by S. Massoud Amin. The focus of the articles in this issue is on the trans- Modernizing the grid will go a long way toward mission and distribution (T&D) system, which has been addressing these concerns, as well as toward relieving called the world’s largest “machine” and is part of the congestion. Clark Gellings reviews the main candidates greatest engineering achievement of the 20th century for further development. He also explains how increas- (NAE, 2003). ing dependence on electricity could actually reduce Although the system as a whole has worked very well emissions of carbon dioxide. up to now, it could be even more economical and reli- Modernizing the grid will require installing modern able. Furthermore, strains on the system are increas- equipment. John Caskey asks where that equipment ing for several reasons, and evolving requirements will will be manufactured. If it is imported, as much electri- create even more pressure. As demand for transmis- cal equipment is these days, our vulnerability to foreign sion services increases, competition and the search disruptions could be increased. Large power transform- for cheaper power have led to independent power ers, which are all imported now, are a particular concern, generation far from load centers. At the same time, and the world’s production capacity is quite limited. investment in transmission has lagged, in part because Another potential constraint on modernizing the structural changes in the industry have failed to reward grid, or even just operating it efficiently, is the loom- new investments. For the same reason, aging equip- ing scarcity of electrical engineers who are educated and ment is not being replaced as rapidly as it should be. In have the experience to operate this massively complex The 4 BRIDGE system.