Power Systems Engineering Research Center

Selected News from PSERC

Updated August 15. Revised Sep. 12 with SW Blackout Media Links.

SW Blackout

• NERC, FERC Announce Joint Inquiry into Outage. FERC and NERC. Sep. 9.
• Utility officials seek to learn why safeguards failed in blackout. Los Angeles Times. Sep. 10.
• How did he do it? Power bosses baffled as to how engineer tripped line that plunged six million people into darkness. MailOnline. Sep. 10.
• Notorious Grid Bottleneck Spawns Western Blackout. IEEE spectrum. Sep. 9.
• How One Mistake Can Leave Millions Without Power. npr. Sep. 10.
• Electric Grid Was Designed To Prevent Arizona Outage. npr. Sep. 10. (PSERC researcher Prof. Anjan Bose was interviewed for this report.)
• Arizona power company baffled by events that led to outage. LA Times. Sep. 9.
• Human Error Investigated in California Blackout's Spread to Six Million. New York Times. Sep. 9.
• Power Is Restored in San Diego Area. The New York Times. Sep. 9.
• Power company employee caused massive blackout, utility says. Los Angeles Times. Sep. 8.
• Full Coverage of Blackout. Los Angeles Times. Sep. 9.
• Google Full Coverage

Industry

• Record-Setting Power Consumption In Texas -- ERCOT Narrowly Avoids Rolling Blackouts. the energy collective. Aug. 14.
• EPRI's Call to Action: It's Time for Grid Operating System 3.0. Renewable + Law. Aug. 13.
• Frack panel to industry: Fix environmental problems - The SEAB Shale Gas Production Subcommittee Ninety-Day Report. August 11. (see also scientists' letter of concern)
• Events Analysis: Five New Lessons Learned. NERC.

Smart Grid

• Startling Smart Grid Developments. IEEE Spectrum. Aug. 10.
• Duke Energy Research: Enabling a More Intelligent Grid. Aug. 8.
• The Costs and Benefits of Smart Meters for Residential Customers (news release). Institute for Electric Efficiency. (see also ComEd: Smart Grid Could Save Customers $2.8 Billion. ComEd. Illinois Public Media. Aug. 9.)
• Warning to energy suppliers over cyber attacks. ComputerWeekly.com. Aug 8.
• The US Smart Grid Revolution: Smart Grid Workforce Trends 2011 (report | press release). Aug. 2.
• DOE Announces Funding Opportunity to Develop the Smart Grid Information Clearinghouse. July 21.
• The too-smart-for-its-own-good grid: careful pricing policies needed. MIT. Aug. 3. (see also "What if the Smart Grid Isn't So Smart?". Scientific American. Aug. 7)
• NARUC suggests how regulators should handle smart grid proposals. Smart Grid Today. July 22.

Government

• Short-Term Energy Outlook. US Energy Information Administration. Aug. 8.
• Department of Energy Relaunches Energy.Gov (news release). Aug. 4.
• Modernizing the Grid: Keeping the Dialogue Going. US DOE. July 25.
• FERC Transmission Planning, Cost Allocation reforms ( News Release | Chairman's Statement | Commissioners' Statements: Moeller | Spitzer | Norris | LaFleur | Fact Sheet | Presentation | Order No. 1000 ). Visit FERC's new Transmission Planning and Cost Allocation Section.
• FERC Infrastructure Update (June 2011 Report). July 19.
• FERC to Institute Public Review of Regulations (News Release | Executive Order). July 11.

Workforce and Education

• Smart Grid Training and Education. Smart Grid News. Aug.11.
• Florida Power & Light Company has expanded its innovative education programs to include STEM subjects. energybiz. Aug. 11.
• Women in STEM: A Gender Gap to Innovation. US Department of Commerce.
• Corbett quietly turning off the lights on renewable energy in Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Aug. 14.
• Engineering a stronger workforce (see also President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness) daily camera. Aug.7.
• Sizing the Clean Economy: A National and Regional Green Jobs Assessment. Brookings Inst.
• The US Smart Grid Revolution: Smart Grid Workforce Trends 2011 (report | press release). Aug. 2.
• A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. The National Academies Press.
• Smart grid jobs? You better believe it. Smart Grid News. July 21.
• Electric power industry to replace nearly 100,000 skilled workers¿more than 25,000 of them in the nuclear industry¿by 2015. Nuclear Energy Institute.
• Strengthening the Electric Transmission Grid Would Be a Boon to the Economy, WIRES Study Finds. WIRES. May 11.

Climate Change

• Climate Change Education Goals, Audiences, and Strategies: A Workshop Summary. National Academies Press.
• On thin ice. MIT.

Information Sources on the Japanese Nuclear Reactor Situation

• American Nuclear Society
• Bravenewclimate
• IEEE Spectrum
• International Atomic Energy Association
• Japan Atomic Industrial Forum
• MIT NSE Nuclear Information Hub
• NHK World
• Nuclear Energy Institute (Boiling Water Reactor Design at Fukushima Daiichi)
• Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA)
• Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO)
• Union of Concerned Scientists (Accident Terminology and Reactor Description)
• U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
• World Nuclear Association
• World Nuclear News

Webinars, Videos, Podcasts and Presentation Slides

• University of Wisconsin Energy Institute Events
• Energy Central Webcasts
• FERC Video and Audio (Live and Archived)
• NERC Webinars
• PSERC Webinars