ELEG617 Electrical Engineering

Assignment 1: Watch NOVA ScienceNOW, with Neil deGrasse Tyson, Director of the Hayden Planetarium, New York City l (Links to an external site.), February 23, 2011). Answer the following questions: Why did Dr. Tyson say that the grid got its start during the Depression rather than in the 1880s? What percentage of the cost of producing electricity is spent on keeping standby generating plants on hold? When consumers start installing the smart appliances that can communicate with and be controlled by the electric utility, what might be the pros and cons of having such controls in place? List the pros and cons. Assignment 2: It has two parts A and B. Assignment A. Read "Smart Grids and Beyond: Achieving the Full Potential of Electricity System," by M. Kezunovic et al., Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol. 100, May 13th, 2012, pp. 1329-1341. Section II.B of the paper lists some challenges. List five other challenges that you find in the paper, briefly explaning why each is a challenge. Assignment B. Read "Forward Pass - Policy Challenges and Technical Opportunities ,"  IEEE Power & Energy Magazine, May/June, 2012, pp. 30-37. Make a list of the challenges that the authors identified that you think are still relevant today (from this 8-year-old paper). With each of the challenges you have identified, state how a smart grid might address the challenge. If your answer to the challenge raises some additional challenges, please note them (for example, if your answer to a challenge is that an analysis application is needed, you might note that an additional challenge is that the analysis algorithm may not yet exist and may need to be created). Note: Please submit your answers in a Word document and number the challenges you’ve identified (1, 2, 3, …).