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Electricity is essential for our day-to-day lives. It powers our homes, commercial and industrial activities, and critical social services such as hospitals and emergency responders. Nearly all other vital infrastructures such as telecommunications, natural gas delivery, and transportation are dependent on continually available electricity. However, electricity systems in the U.S. and other countries are vulnerable to diverse and evolving threats that can cause large-area outages that last for days, weeks, or longer. This report identifies technologies, policies, and organizational strategies to increase the resilience of the nation's electric system in the face of large outages.
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Consensus
·2017
Americans' safety, productivity, comfort, and convenience depend on the reliable supply of electric power. The electric power system is a complex "cyber-physical" system composed of a network of millions of components spread out across the continent. These components are owned, operated, and regulat...
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Description
An ad hoc National Research Council (NRC) committee will address technical, policy and institutional factors that might affect how modern technology can be implemented in the evolution of electric transmission and distribution (T&D) in the United States and recommend strategies for how the nation can move to a more reliable and resilient T&D system. The committee will consider how existing and emerging technological options, including greater reliance on distributed power generation, could impact the reliability, robustness and the ability to recover from disruptions to the electrical T&D system, or systems. The study will identify barriers to implementing technology for improving T&D reliability, including priorities where necessary, for research, development and demonstration (RD&D), and strategies and actions that could lead to a more reliable and resilient T&D system. As part of this study the committee may:
(1) review recent studies and analysis of the current and projected status of the nation’s electric T&D system, including any that identify significant technological concerns over vulnerability, reliability and resilience;
(2) assess factors affecting future requirements and trends for the nation's T&D infrastructure, including such issues as the need for new capacity, replacement needs, siting issues, vulnerability to external threats and the need for security, whether physical or cyber, the alignment of costs and benefits, the effects of interconnectedness among regional networks, and others identified by the committee;
(3) evaluate the role existing and emerging technological options (including renewable and distributed generation technologies), can play in creating or addressing concerns identified by the committee and that can lead to enhanced reliability and resilience;
(4) review federal, state, industry, and academic R&D programs, as well as any demonstration and/or deployment efforts, focused on technologies for the T&D system that are aimed at improving its capacity, reliability, resilience, flexibility and any other attributes aimed at enhancing the robustness of the nation’s electric power T&D system;
(5) identify non-technological barriers (including those related to regulatory and ownership issues) to the implementation of new and/or expanded technology to improve the stability, reliability, and resilience of electric T&D; and
(6) suggest strategies, priorities, and actions for implementation of the identified technologies for the T&D system, which could include RD&D, policies, incentives, standards, and others the committee finds are necessary.
The committee will write a report documenting its findings and recommendations. The report will be issued by the National Academies approximately 18 months from the time funds are received to initiate the study.
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Conflict of Interest Disclosure
Disclosure of Conflict of Interest: Paul De Martini
In accordance with Section 15 of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the "Academy shall make its best efforts to ensure that no individual appointed to serve on [a] committee has a conflict of interest that is relevant to the functions to be performed, unless such conflict is promptly and publicly disclosed and the Academy determines that the conflict is unavoidable." A conflict of interest refers to an interest, ordinarily financial, of an individual that could be directly affected by the work of the committee. As specified in the Academy's policy and procedures (http://www.nationalacademies.org/coi/index.html), an objective determination is made for each provisionally appointed committee member whether or not a conflict of interest exists given the facts of the individual's financial and other interests and the task being undertaken by the committee. A determination of a conflict of interest for an individual is not an assessment of that individual's actual behavior or character or ability to act objectively despite the conflicting interest.
We have concluded that for this committee to accomplish the tasks for which it was established, its membership must include, among others, at least one person who is who is currently and directly engaged in the electric transmission and distribution (T&D) system in the United States.
To meet the need for this expertise and experience, Paul De Martini is proposed for membership on this committee even though we have concluded that he has a conflict of interest because the firm that he is employed, ICF international, has consulting relationships with companies in the electricity sector.
As his biographical summary makes clear, Paul De Martini has current practical expertise in the deployment of advanced power electronics technologies and the strategy, policy, and technology development critical for a potential transformation of the electricity utility business model to a customer-centric business. Mr. De Martini currently works with many companies in the electricity industry on both technical and regulatory issues, and has broad experience as vice president of Advanced Technology at Southern California Edison (SCE), as the chief technology and strategy officer for Cisco’s Energy Networks Business Unit, and as managing director for Newport Consulting Group, where he led engagements with several U.S. and non-U.S. utilities on customer-centric business transformations. We believe that Mr. De Martini can serve effectively as a member of the committee and that the committee can produce an objective report, taking into account the composition of the committee, the work to be performed, and the procedures to be followed in completing the work.
After an extensive search, we have been unable to find another individual who does not have a similar conflict of interest and who also has a comparable combination of current industry expertise and specialized technology, policy, and business experience in transitioning to a more distributed power system. Therefore, we have concluded that the potential conflict of interest described above is unavoidable.
Disclosure of Conflict of Interest: Susan Tierney
In accordance with Section 15 of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the "Academy shall make its best efforts to ensure that no individual appointed to serve on [a] committee has a conflict of interest that is relevant to the functions to be performed, unless such conflict is promptly and publicly disclosed and the Academy determines that the conflict is unavoidable." A conflict of interest refers to an interest, ordinarily financial, of an individual that could be directly affected by the work of the committee. As specified in the Academy's policy and procedures (http://www.nationalacademies.org/coi/index.html), an objective determination is made for each provisionally appointed committee member whether or not a conflict of interest exists given the facts of the individual's financial and other interests and the task being undertaken by the committee. A determination of a conflict of interest for an individual is not an assessment of that individual's actual behavior or character or ability to act objectively despite the conflicting interest.
We have concluded that for this committee to accomplish the tasks for which it was established, its membership must include, among others, at least one person who possesses broad experience both in the energy industry and as an industry regulator, and current expertise in energy economics, regulation and policy for the electric and gas industries, particularly in the area of how the electricity sector plans and approves investments in resiliency and reliability.
To meet the need for this expertise and experience, Susan Tierney is proposed for membership on this committee even though we have concluded that she has a conflict of interest because she is employed by the Advisory Group, which has consulting relationships with companies in the electricity sector.
As her biographical summary makes clear, Susan Tierney has broad current experience in the electric transmission and distribution industry, including in the areas of market analyses, wholesale and retail market design, resource planning and procurements, regional transmission organizations, siting of electric infrastructure projects, electric system reliability, ratemaking for electric and gas utilities (including cost allocation, rate design, incentive ratemaking mechanisms), clean energy resources, and environmental policy and regulation. Dr. Tierney’s extensive background includes positions as the Assistant Secretary for Policy at the U.S. Department of Energy, the Secretary for Environmental Affairs in Massachusetts, Commissioner at the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, Chairman of the Board of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, and executive director of the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Council. We believe that Dr. Tierney can serve effectively as a member of the committee and that the committee can produce an objective report, taking into account the composition of the committee, the work to be performed, and the procedures to be followed in completing the work.
After an extensive search, we have been unable to find another individual who does not have a similar conflict of interest and who also has current experience with the issues facing the electric transmission and distribution industry and specialized background in the planning, policy analysis, and regulatory expertise for the electricity sector. Therefore, we have concluded that the potential conflict of interest described above is unavoidable.
Sponsors
Department of Energy
Staff
John Holmes
Lead
Ben Wender
Lead