Upcoming Challenges of Future Electric Power Systems: Sustainability and Resiliency

Abstract

Going back and taking a quick glance at the history of developed countries prove that prosperity of any society is tightly intertwined with resiliency and sustainability of its preliminary infrastructures. Surely, in modern societies, electricity is among the most important infrastructures whose resiliency and sustainability is a key driving force toward development of the society. This is verified by the fact that, since the industrial revolution, per capita electricity consumption has taken as a key index showing the level of economic development and standard of living in a country. This paper focuses on the concept of resiliency and sustainability of electric power systems. The paper, initially, introduces the concept and evaluation procedure of power systems resiliency. Then, it strives to introduce the most challenging issues faced by resilient and sustainable power grids. The challenging issues are electricity load growth, energy crisis, environmental emissions and climate changes, unexpected events, aging infrastructures, and cyber challenges. Then, the most effective solutions proposed by power industry scientists and engineers are discussed. The solutions are asset management, renewable energy resources, demand response, controlled islanding and micro grids, and automation, self-healing , and monitoring systems. Finally, a typical sustainable and resilient power system is described.