April 16, 2010, 1100 Webb

Federal programs are subsidizing deployments of smart grid elements to promote renewable energy. But for these initial deployments to grow, the smart grid needs to become self sustaining. This will require modifications in system operations that create a level field for both reliable and renewable power. Two such modifications are proposed, founded on the concept of risk-limiting dispatch, and realized in a way that permits incremental deployment. The current practice of worst-case dispatch assumes reliable power sources and limited information. Risk-limiting dispatch relies on information—from sensors, generators and customers—to coordinate renewable power sources and demand response. .

Pravin Varaiya is Nortel Networks Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. From 1975 to 1992 he was also Professor of Economics at Berkeley. From 1994 to 1997 he was Director of the California PATH program, a multi-university research program dedicated to the solution of California’s transportation problems. His current research is concerned with communication networks, transportation, and hybrid systems. He has taught at MIT and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
Varaiya has held a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Miller Research Professorship. He received Honorary Doctorates from L’Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse and L’Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble, and the Field Medal and Bode Lecture Prize of the IEEE Control Systems Society. He is a Fellow of IEEE, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
He is on the editorial board of "Discrete Event Dynamical Systems" and "Transportation Research---C". He has co-authored three books and 300 technical papers. The second edition of “High-Performance Communication Networks” (with Jean Walrand and Andrea Goldsmith) was published by Morgan-Kaufmann in 2000. “Structure and interpretation of signals and systems” (with Edward Lee) was published by Addison-Wesley in 2003. Varaiya is a member of the Board of Directors of Sensys Networks.