MIT Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

MIT EECS
1995 (Spring Semester)
Colloquium Series

Monday, March 6, 1995

SHOULD ELECTRIC POWER UTILITIES
MAKE ELECTRIC POWER?

Richard Tabors
MIT LEES

The electric utility industry is changing, in the United States and worldwide. The vertically integrated utility which generates, transmits and distributes its own power is disappearing. Since the Public Utilities Regulatory Policy Act of 1978, anyone with sufficient knowledge and financial backing can own and operate a generating unit, and much recently added generating capacity is not owned by the utilities. Since the Energy Policy Act of 1992, wholesale access to all transmission and distribution systems has been guaranteed, and many transmission lines now carry power not generated by their owners.

The electric utilities are following the railroad, trucking, airline, telecommunications and natural gas industries toward competition. Electricity is becoming a commodity, with marketers and brokers acting to minimize costs. Annual national savings due to restructuring may ultimately be as high as $60 to $100 billion. As the process proceeds, it is not clear how a market-controlled system will provide adequate control of voltage, frequency and system reserves.

The talk will review both the changes that have occurred and are occurring in the industry, and the directions of additional change underway at both at the federal level and in pioneering states such as California. It will also point out research and development opportunities and needs at the interface between power systems and both public and corporate policy, as the industry moves from monopoly to competition.

4-5 PM
Edgerton Hall (34-101)
Refreshments 3:30