Keynote address

Hans B. (Teddy) Püttgen Georgia Power Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology Director and Management Board Chair, NEETRAC President, IEEE Power Engineering Society

R & D in our industry: where do we go from here?

Recent events in the electric power supply systems in North America and Europe have, again, demonstrated the potential fragility if what has become a mission critical infrastructure in highly industrialized countries as well as in regions with developing economies.

Outages in any electric power system can be due to systemic insufficiencies in the production and/or delivery systems, this is only rarely the case, or be due to localized and unforeseen events, which is sometimes the case, or, finally, be due to human errors, which is most often the case.  R&D activities must be addressing the future development of electric power supply systems such that the infrastructure is both reliable and incident resistant while also providing a much needed commodity at attractive costs while also preserving the environment.

After a brief overview of the August 14, 2003, incident in the United States, the main R&D challenges facing our industry will be presented.  In particular, the integration of dispersed and alternative generation and storage technologies into electric power delivery systems will be addressed.  The sustained development of various end-use electric energy technologies will also have a major impact on the future structure of our industry.

Recent outages have confirmed that, in order to reduce both capital and operating costs, modern power systems are operated ever closer to their theoretical limits.  This reduced margin operational mode dictates the deployment of sophisticated monitor and control technologies.  At the same time, the massive amount of information generated must be reduced to a form where it becomes useful for the human operators.

Finally, the impact of public policy on our industry is becoming ever more dominating.  While technology development can be viewed at a global level, public policy must be developed and implemented at a local level.  However, localized public policy decisions are started to be linked by way of global environmental impacts.

Biography:

Hans B. (Teddy}Pűttgen is Georgia Power Professor and Vice Chair for External Affairs in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Dr. Pűttgen is the Director and Management Board Chair of the National Electric Energy Test, Research and Application Center, NEETRAC.  Launched in 1996, NEETRAC is a membership driven organization focusing on research and test projects in the field of electric power delivery systems and apparatus.  It presently has 25 members among major US electric utilities and equipment manufacturers.  The NEETRAC annual budget is five million dollars, entirely funded by industry – the staff comprises some 30 full-time engineering and technical staff.  Faculty and students from the Georgia Institute of Technology are also actively engaged in several NEETRAC projects.

Teddy Pűttgen serves as Président of Georgia Tech Lorraine, the European campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology located in Metz, France.  Georgia Tech Lorraine is incorporated as a not-for-profit organization under French law.  At Georgia Tech Lorraine, the Georgia Institute of Technology offers graduate degree granting education programs in engineering.  Double degree programs are also offered at Georgia Tech Lorraine in close collaboration with premier French and European institutions.  Undergraduate programs in engineering, management as well as social sciences and humanities are also offered.  A joint research laboratory has been created with the French CNRS: GTL CNRS Telecom. 

Teddy Pűttgen, who is a Senior Member of PES, serves as President of the Power Engineering Society of IEEE.  He has also served as Vice President for Meetings and Vice President for University and Industry Relations of the Power Engineering Society as well as Chair for the Atlanta Chapter. 

He graduated from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne with the Ingénieur Diplômé degree in Electrical Engineering.  He holds graduate degrees in Business Administration and Management from the University of Lausanne.  His PhD, in Electrical Engineering with an emphasis in electric power, is from the University of Florida. 

He is a past recipient of the IEEE Award for Outstanding Faculty Advisor and of the ASEE DOW Outstanding Young Faculty award.  He is a member of the Sigma Xi, Phi Kappa Phi, Tau Pi Beta and Eta Kappa Nu honor societies.