IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2016 - 4

from the editor

Mel Olken

utility & grid of the future
what will it bring?

S

image licensed by graphic stock

Suffice to Say that today'S
electric grid is not that of the 20th century, and, as a result, electric utilities
worldwide are playing catch up with
the evolving technologies. the maturation of renewable forms of energy and
the advent of distributed generation
are merely the harbingers for potential
changes in utility operation as they are
being accompanied by implications
affecting business, environmental and
regulatory aspects, to just name a few
of the areas that will be affected.

In This Issue
the theme of this issue, the utility and
grid of the future, is an attempt to offer
a view of the possibilities and scenarios
that may evolve and the myriad issues
that these scenarios may introduce. in
some ways, the timing of the issue is
quite fortuitous, as it follows our previous issue with the theme of transactive
energy, which offered some introduction to this issue.
i am grateful to Julio Romero agüero for proposing the subject as an issue
theme and then following up with a
very comprehensive set of six feature
articles exploring the details of the
situation as they relate to differing scenarios in europe, Latin america, and
the united States. these articles are
introduced and put into perspective in
Julio's "Guest editorial" column.
Ralph Masiello's "in My View" column provides a fitting conclusion to the
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPE.2016.2579298
Date of publication: 17 August 2016

4

ieee power & energy magazine

issue theme by providing a look back to
where we came from as we look ahead
to where we might be going.

A Review of
Society Activities
our "Leader's corner" column by ieee
Power & energy Society (PeS) President damir Novosel offers a very comprehensive review of recent Society
activities. damir presents an update on
the very successful t&d conference
and exhibition that took place in early May. he also reviews the activities
taking place throughout PeS: chapter activities; global meetings; "new"
technologies that, in reality, are newer
versions of old technologies; awards;
publications; and staff activities. We
are offered an in-depth picture of what

we, as the Society, are doing and how
we are doing it.

Hydro Along the Rhine
the "history" column brings us back to
the late 19th and early 20th centuries and
specifically to the Rheinfelden hydro
plant located on the Rhine River where it
borders Switzerland and Germany. the
plant, energized in 1898, was one of the
first in europe and also one of the pioneering entities utilizing three-phase ac
and operating at 50 hz. the column, edited by associate editor carl Sulzberger,
was authored by Gerhard Neidhoefer (an
old friend and previous contributor) and
Wilifred fischer, both of whom are recognized experts and, i might add, dedicated ieee and PeS members.
p&e

september/october 2016
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2016
