Smart Grids and ISO -- New England

Today we are experiencing frightful winter weather in Amherst with heavy wet snow, downed trees, and with numerous electric power outages and with many schools and colleges closed. This kind of weather demonstrates how important the generation and delivery of electric power is to our homes, businesses, and not to mention to our schools and hospitals.

Several of my doctoral students have conducted research on electric power generation and distribution networks, which we also established have commonalities with transportation networks. Most recently, a former student of mine, Dr. Zugang "Leo" Liu, and I had one of our papers, "An Integrated Electric Power Supply Chain and Fuel Market Network Framework: Theoretical Modeling with Empirical Analysis for New England," published in the journal, Naval Research Logistics. This paper used data from ISO - New England.

ISO - New England (NE), according to its website: helps protect the health of New England's economy and the well-being of its people by ensuring the constant availability of electricity, today and for future generations. ISO New England meets this obligation in three ways: by ensuring the day-to-day reliable operation of New England's bulk power generation and transmission system, by overseeing and ensuring the fair administration of the region's wholesale electricity markets, and by managing comprehensive, regional planning processes.

This ISO (independent system operator) has numerous important roles. We are delighted that we will be hosting the talk of Mr. Richard Brooks of ISO - NE on Smart Grids, next Friday, March 5, 2010, in our Speaker Series. This Series is organized by the UMass Amherst Student Chapter of INFORMS, which I have been serving as the Faculty Advisor of since 2004. More information about Mr. Brooks' presentation, and other upcoming talks, can be found on this link.

The students have added a nice slide show on the chapter website, so do check it out if you have a chance.

Mr. Brooks' presentation will take place at the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst next Friday, in Room 112, at 11AM. This talk, as others in this series, is open to the public. Please join us, if you can, and learn about a most important topic -- that of smart electric power grids!