Marija Ilic – författare

Sustainable energy services to customers - a balanced choice and coordination of energy generated by traditional and alternative sources - are the subject of this new innovative book. The myriad factors involved in modeling an effective sustainable power system are overwhelming. The “Green Islands” project represents a decade of work by over a dozen researchers who have developed a model designed to utilize the potential of distributed clean resources. The key is the proper use of Information Technology (IT). Sited on two islands in the Azores, the project developed the model of careful forecasting of demand and supply, down to the minute, coordinating the output of conventional power plants, wind energy, fly wheels, hydroelectricity, demand reduction, and even plug-in electric vehicles to take full advantage of the clean resources available. The energy contingencies of the remote islands are not unique. The issues of integrating promising clean technologies, such as wind, into a complex power grid are challenging in geographically far-flung, island-scale, power systems. Model-based sensing, communications, and decision-making algorithms to coordinate adaptive load management (ALM) could enable customers to utilize just-in-time (JIT), just-in-place (JIP), and just-in-context (JIC) energy resources. The distribution of flexible and efficient energy to customers is the goal. The model the authors have developed could change the way power portfolios are built. A new perspective for optimization of green energy is presented in this book. Additional data provided online via Springer represents a repository of real-world electric energy systems and its IT-enabled smarts.

Sustainable energy services to customers - a balanced choice and coordination of energy generated by traditional and alternative sources - are the subject of this new innovative book. The myriad factors involved in modeling an effective sustainable power system are overwhelming. The “Green Islands” project represents a decade of work by over a dozen researchers who have developed a model designed to utilize the potential of distributed clean resources. The key is the proper use of Information Technology (IT). Sited on two islands in the Azores, the project developed the model of careful forecasting of demand and supply, down to the minute, coordinating the output of conventional power plants, wind energy, fly wheels, hydroelectricity, demand reduction, and even plug-in electric vehicles to take full advantage of the clean resources available. The energy contingencies of the remote islands are not unique. The issues of integrating promising clean technologies, such as wind, into a complex power grid are challenging in geographically far-flung, island-scale, power systems. Model-based sensing, communications, and decision-making algorithms to coordinate adaptive load management (ALM) could enable customers to utilize just-in-time (JIT), just-in-place (JIP), and just-in-context (JIC) energy resources. The distribution of flexible and efficient energy to customers is the goal. The model the authors have developed could change the way power portfolios are built. A new perspective for optimization of green energy is presented in this book. Additional data provided online via Springer represents a repository of real-world electric energy systems and its IT-enabled smarts.

The challenges currently facing particIpants m competitive electricity markets are unique and staggering: unprecedented price volatility, a crippling lack of historical market data on which to test new modeling approaches, and a continuously changing regulatory structure. Meeting these challenges will require the knowledge and experience of both the engineering and finance communities. Yet the two communities continue to largely ignore each other. The finance community believes that engineering models are too detailed and complex to be practically applicable in the fast changing market environment. Engineers counter that the finance models are merely statistical regressions, lacking the necessary structure to capture the true dynamic properties of complex power systems. While both views have merit, neither group has by themselves been able to produce effective tools for meeting industry challenges. The goal of this book is to convey the fundamental differences between electricity and other traded commodities, and the impact these differences have on valuation, hedging and operational decisions made by market participants. The optimization problems associated with these decisions are formulated in the context of the market realities of today's power industry, including a lack of liquidity on forward and options markets, limited availability of historical data, and constantly changing regulatory structures.

The writing of this book was largely motivated by the ongoing unprecedented world-wide restructuring of the power industry. This move away from the traditional monopolies and toward greater competition, in the form of increased numbers of independent power producers and an unbundling of the main services that were until now provided by the utilities, has been building up for over a decade. This change was driven by the large disparities in electricity tariffs across regions, by technological developments that make it possible for small producers to compete with large ones, and by a widely held belief that competition will be beneficial in a broad sense. All of this together with the political will to push through the necessary legislative reforms has created a climate conducive to restructuring in the electric power industry. Consequently, since the beginning of this decade dramatic changes have taken place in an ever-increasing list of nations, from the pioneering moves in the United Kingdom, Chile and Scandinavia, to today's highly fluid power industry throughout North and South America, as well as in the European Community. The drive to restructure and take advantage of the potential economic benefits has, in our view, forced the industry to take actions and make choices at a hurried pace, without the usual deliberation and thorough analysis of possible implications. We must admit that to speak of "the industry" at this juncture is perhaps disingenuous, even misleading.

The writing of this book was largely motivated by the ongoing unprecedented world-wide restructuring of the power industry. This move away from the traditional monopolies and toward greater competition, in the form of increased numbers of independent power producers and an unbundling of the main services that were until now provided by the utilities, has been building up for over a decade. This change was driven by the large disparities in electricity tariffs across regions, by technological developments that make it possible for small producers to compete with large ones, and by a widely held belief that competition will be beneficial in a broad sense. All of this together with the political will to push through the necessary legislative reforms has created a climate conducive to restructuring in the electric power industry. Consequently, since the beginning of this decade dramatic changes have taken place in an ever-increasing list of nations, from the pioneering moves in the United Kingdom, Chile and Scandinavia, to today's highly fluid power industry throughout North and South America, as well as in the European Community. The drive to restructure and take advantage of the potential economic benefits has, in our view, forced the industry to take actions and make choices at a hurried pace, without the usual deliberation and thorough analysis of possible implications. We must admit that to speak of "the industry" at this juncture is perhaps disingenuous, even misleading.

The series Advances in Industrial Control aims to report and encourage technology transfer in control engineering. The rapid development of control technology impacts all areas of the control discipline. New theory, new controllers, actuators, sensors, new industrial processes, computer methods, new applications, new philosophies . . . , new challenges. Much of this development work resides in industrial reports, feasibility study papers and the reports of advanced collaborative projects. The series offers an opportunity for researchers to present an extended exposition of such new work in all aspects of industrial control for wider and rapid dissemination. Deregulation of electricity markets is a worldwide activity with leading and distinctive developments occurring in the European and US markets. The immediate impact of these changes is felt in the higher levels of the power production hierarchy where tools to aid short-term economic decision making are needed. At the lower levels of the production control hierarchy the impact is to demand much more flexible unit operation so that the determined short-term goals can be met. Allen and Illic have produced this useful monograph on the decision algorithms needed to determine unit commitment proflles over the shorter time frame of hours and days. The method of dynamic programming has been used and the work covers modelling, cost function and construction, an introduction to dynamic programming and a detailed assessment of its use. The monograph comes complete with programs in Appendix D and with other appendices giving the necessary supporting theory.

The series Advances in Industrial Control aims to report and encourage technology transfer in control engineering. The rapid development of control technology impacts all areas of the control discipline. New theory, new controllers, actuators, sensors, new industrial processes, computer methods, new applications, new philosophies . . . , new challenges. Much of this development work resides in industrial reports, feasibility study papers and the reports of advanced collaborative projects. The series offers an opportunity for researchers to present an extended exposition of such new work in all aspects of industrial control for wider and rapid dissemination. Deregulation of electricity markets is a worldwide activity with leading and distinctive developments occurring in the European and US markets. The immediate impact of these changes is felt in the higher levels of the power production hierarchy where tools to aid short-term economic decision making are needed. At the lower levels of the production control hierarchy the impact is to demand much more flexible unit operation so that the determined short-term goals can be met. Allen and Illic have produced this useful monograph on the decision algorithms needed to determine unit commitment proflles over the shorter time frame of hours and days. The method of dynamic programming has been used and the work covers modelling, cost function and construction, an introduction to dynamic programming and a detailed assessment of its use. The monograph comes complete with programs in Appendix D and with other appendices giving the necessary supporting theory.

Deregulation is causing dramatic change in the power industry but little is known about how power systems will function under competition. What are suitable performance objectives? What control designs are required and what economic techniques should be used? This detailed analysis attempts to answer these questions. The authors provide a modelling, analysis and systems control framework that makes it possible to relate distinctive features of the electric power industry to more conventional supply/demand processes in other industries. Some parts of the system can be distributed while other parts must remain co-ordinated. This authoritative and detailed study is highly topical and will be of interest to those working in the systems control area, especially in electrical power. It is also most relevant for industrial economists as well as academics in electrical power engineering.

Deregulation is causing dramatic change in the power industry but little is known about how power systems will function under competition. What are suitable performance objectives? What control designs are required and what economic techniques should be used? This detailed analysis attempts to answer these questions. The authors provide a modelling, analysis and systems control framework that makes it possible to relate distinctive features of the electric power industry to more conventional supply/demand processes in other industries. Some parts of the system can be distributed while other parts must remain co-ordinated. This authoritative and detailed study is highly topical and will be of interest to those working in the systems control area, especially in electrical power. It is also most relevant for industrial economists as well as academics in electrical power engineering.

The challenges currently facing particIpants m competitive electricity markets are unique and staggering: unprecedented price volatility, a crippling lack of historical market data on which to test new modeling approaches, and a continuously changing regulatory structure. Meeting these challenges will require the knowledge and experience of both the engineering and finance communities. Yet the two communities continue to largely ignore each other. The finance community believes that engineering models are too detailed and complex to be practically applicable in the fast changing market environment. Engineers counter that the finance models are merely statistical regressions, lacking the necessary structure to capture the true dynamic properties of complex power systems. While both views have merit, neither group has by themselves been able to produce effective tools for meeting industry challenges. The goal of this book is to convey the fundamental differences between electricity and other traded commodities, and the impact these differences have on valuation, hedging and operational decisions made by market participants. The optimization problems associated with these decisions are formulated in the context of the market realities of today's power industry, including a lack of liquidity on forward and options markets, limited availability of historical data, and constantly changing regulatory structures.

The challenges currently facing particIpants m competitive electricity markets are unique and staggering: unprecedented price volatility, a crippling lack of historical market data on which to test new modeling approaches, and a continuously changing regulatory structure. Meeting these challenges will require the knowledge and experience of both the engineering and finance communities. Yet the two communities continue to largely ignore each other. The finance community believes that engineering models are too detailed and complex to be practically applicable in the fast changing market environment. Engineers counter that the finance models are merely statistical regressions, lacking the necessary structure to capture the true dynamic properties of complex power systems. While both views have merit, neither group has by themselves been able to produce effective tools for meeting industry challenges. The goal of this book is to convey the fundamental differences between electricity and other traded commodities, and the impact these differences have on valuation, hedging and operational decisions made by market participants. The optimization problems associated with these decisions are formulated in the context of the market realities of today''s power industry, including a lack of liquidity on forward and options markets, limited availability of historical data, and constantly changing regulatory structures.