The 20th-century engineering feat that most improved the quality of human life, the electric power system, now faces discipline-spanning challenges that threaten that distinction. So multilayered and complex that they resemble ecosystems, power grids face risks from their interdependent cyber, physical, social and economic layers. Only with a holistic understanding of the dynamics of electricity infrastructure and human operators, automatic controls, electricity markets, weather, climate and policy can we fortify worldwide access to electricity.
@article{arxiv.1307.7305,
title = {Transdisciplinary electric power grid science},
author = {Charles D. Brummitt and Paul D. H. Hines and Ian Dobson and Cristopher Moore and Raissa M. D'Souza},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1307.7305},
year = {2014}
}
Comments
Pages 1--2 are the opinion article published in PNAS 110 (30) 12159 (2013). Pages 4--10 are supplementary material, with more explanation of the main components and feedbacks in electric power systems, as well as a list of useful sources of data on power grids