NSF/EPRI workshop to explore electric power solutions

The National Science Foundation (NSF) and Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) will host a workshop October 10-12, 2001, in Palo Alto, Calif., to explore technical means for solving California's ongoing electricity problems and meeting future global needs.

The workshop will address the need to improve the U.S. electricity infrastructure, as discussed in President Bush's National Energy Policy. In the next 10 years, demand for electric power is expected to increase by about 25 percent while current plans call for electric transmission capacity to increase by only 4 percent.

The event brings together researchers who study transmission capacity and bottlenecks, competitiveness in an open market, and vulnerabilities of the power infrastructure to disruptions such as natural disasters, equipment failures and sabotage. Brazilian experts will present new technologies that have been successful in Brazil and offer both short-term and long-term potential to help balance U.S. supply and demand and lower electricity prices.

What: NSF/EPRI Workshop Urgent Opportunities for Transmission System Enhancement

When: October 10, 6:30 p.m.-October 12, 2:30 p.m.

Where: EPRI, 3412 Hillview Avenue, Palo Alto, Calif.

For more information contact:

Media: Amber Jones, NSF 703-292-8070; aljones@nsf.gov
Christine Hopf-Lovette, EPRI 650-855-2733; chopf@epri.com
Others: James Momoh, NSF 703-292-8339; jmomoh@nsf.gov
Massoud Amin, EPRI 650-855-2452; mamin@epri.com