CERTS Research Highlights

The U.S. electric power system is in the midst of a fundamental transition from a centrally planned and utility-controlled structure to one that will depend on competitive market forces for investment, operations, and reliability management. Electricity system operators are being challenged to maintain the reliability of the grid and support economic transfers of power as the industry's structure changes and market rules evolve. Meanwhile, the U.S. economy depends more than ever on reliable and highquality electricity supplies. New technologies are needed to prevent major outages such as those experienced on the Western grid on August 10, 1996, which left 12 million people without electricity for up to eight hours and cost an estimated $2 billion. The Consortium for Electric Reliability Technology Solutions (CERTS) was formed in 1999 to research, develop, and disseminate new methods, tools, and technologies to protect and enhance the reliability of the U.S. electric power system and functioning of a competitive electricity market. CERTS is currently conducting research for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Transmission Reliability Program and for the California Energy Commission (CEC) Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) Program. The members of CERTS include the Electric Power Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the National Science Foundation's Power Systems Engineering Research Center, and Sandia National Laboratories.