IEEE Smart Grid Year End From the Publication Committee

By Panos Moutis, Mehrdad Rostami

In 2020 we experienced an unprecedented thread of events stemming from the wide and untethered spread of a virus with a considerable mortality rate. Although the focus of the world was on the efforts of the medical and pharmaceutical communities, the rest of human activity was not left unaffected. Electrical power systems were faced with a complete shift in a load of customers’ behaviors. IT infrastructure and services experienced similar phenomena. Everything that usually goes unnoticed in our every day, we discovered that it defines it in a unique way, and we reassessed its value.

Focusing on the effects of COVID-19 to electricity infrastructure and quality of service, most of the effects have been – at worst, barely noticeable and rather mild. However, behind the scenes, in the control rooms of utilities and system operators, the reality was different, worrisome, and intense. The challenges, although not insurmountable, they were new, and they required proper planning and management. Indicatively, operators around the world had to handle erroneous forecasting of load, wind generation, and photovoltaics generation, as also the challenge of managing control room personnel in ways that would not risk wide exposure for the whole team of engineers “running” an electrical grid. In light of these concerns, new protocols were put together and innovation was sought for anew in specific applications, methods, and operations.

At the IEEE Smart Grid, we have been monitoring how the electrical grid sector responded to COVID-19 and we are planning on bringing to you articles on the experiences gathered and the lessons learned. In the first few issues of 2021, the IEEE Smart Grid Newsletter will feature articles on carbon emission reductions, hydrogen, and battery storage systems, as these topics have been gathering much attention and, even if they are not directly linked to the Smart Grid per se, they affect and are affected by it through the common denominator of energy management.

Let’s look at the past issue topics in 2020:

1. January: Smart grid and energy storage technologies – Four (4) articles
2. February: Smart grid, renewables, and green transportation – Three (3) articles
3. March: Smart grid and microgrid resiliency – Five (5) articles
4. April: Power and energy management in smart grid, EMS/DMS - Four (4) articles
5. May: Pandemic implications on power systems – Seven (7) articles
6. June: Smart grid and power system technologies – Four (4) articles
7. July: Current smart grid status – Different country stories/ experiences - Four (4) articles
8. August: Safety and protection practices of smart grid – Five (5) articles
9. September: Load displacement and renewables capacity credit – Three (3) articles
10. October: Educational aspects – Five (5) articles
11. November: Artificial intelligence, machine learning and data mining applications in smart grid – Four (4) articles
12. December: Year in review – Four (4) articles

In total, 52 articles have been published in IEEE Smart Grid eNewsletter in 2020, mostly focused on Smart Grid hot topics of the year.

IEEE smart grid publication committee is chaired by Dr. P.Moutis.

The editorial board consists of eight (8) members from all across the world which is managed by Dr. M.Rostami from Canada.

Editorial boards are as follows:

Dr. P.Khayyer (US), Dr. M.Cintuglu (US), Dr. G.Mokryani (UK), Dr. J.Medina (US), Mr. M.Boloorchi (Canada), Dr. V.Kumaran (Malaysia), Dr. H.Gaber (Canada), and Dr. J.Angarita (Mexico).

IEEE smart grid program manager is Phyllis Caputo. She is a super champion in leading different activities across IEEE Smart Grid including publication committee tasks.

IEEE smart grid editorial board will have a new member from January 2021: Dr. M. Moghadasi (US).

Now as we are approaching the end of the challenging and tough year of 2020, the committee is thankful to Peter Wung, IEEE Smart Grid chair, for providing fantastic support in this year and extremely thankful to all of our members, participants, and other contributors for their great work; without which we would not have been there where we are today.

Please provide your questions, suggestions, or comments regarding the publications Committee, please contact Panos Moutis or Phyllis Caputo.

We all in IEEE Smart Grid publication committee wish you a great year 2021, pandemic free and full of wealth, health, and happiness for our members, families, and people around the world.

Thank you, P.Moutis, M.Rostami

For a downloadable copy of the December 2020 eNewsletter which includes this article, please visit the IEEE Smart Grid Resource Center.

Mehrdad Rostami has more than 30 years of engineering experience in utility and industry. He authored or co-authored more than 70 papers in engineering journals and conferences. As a senior member of IEEE and holding Ph.D. in electrical engineering, Mehrdad has an in-depth knowledge of electrical engineering fundamentals and comprehensive experience and knowledge of high-level power system transient study and analysis. Mehrdad is managing editor of IEEE Smart Grid Newsletter and IEEE Smart Grid publication and operating committee member. Licensed as professional engineer in Ontario and Manitoba, he is leading the Power System Studies team of Ontario in Stantec consulting ltd, based in Markham, Ontario.

Panayiotis (Panos) Moutis, PhD, is a Systems Scientist at the Scott Institute for Energy Innovation at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), USA, since Aug. 2018 (Postdoc Electrical & Computer Engineering – ECE, CMU 2016). He served as a Marie Curie fellow with DEPsys SA, Switzerland, in 2018-2020. In 2014 he was awarded a fellowship by Arup, UK (through the University of Greenwich), on the “Research Challenge of Balancing Urban Microgrids in Future Planned Communities”. Between 2007 and 2015, as part of the research group SmartRUE, at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece, he contributed to many R&D projects funded by the European Commission. Panos studied at the School of ECE at the NTUA, Greece (Dipl. 2007, PhD 2015). He has published more than 30 papers and contributed to 3 book chapters, while he also has over 10 years of experience as a technical consultant on and developer of projects of Renewable Energy Sources and Energy Efficiency. He is the CTO of Proterima Energy Consultants, Greece, and technology advisor to Xeal (ex EVE Energy), USA, an electric vehicle charging platform start-up. He is a senior member of multiple IEEE societies, associated editor in IEEE & IET journal publications, task-group chair in two IEEE standards working groups, Chair of the IEEE Smart Grid Publications Committee, Editor-in-Chief of the “IEEE Smart Grid Newsletter”, and has served as the Editor-in-Chief of the “IEEE Smart Grid Compendium of Journal Publications, vol. 1”.