our society in 2008 - IEEE Xplore

leader’s corner

Wanda Reder

our society in 2008 bursting with excitement and opportunity

P

PES PRESIDENTS CHANGE EVERY two years. As your new president, I am honored to share my vision for the IEEE Power Engineering Society (PES) in my first column. I want to emphasize at the outset that I believe our future has not been this promising since the AIEE became a part of IEEE in 1963. The entire energy field is bursting with excitement and opportunity. Public interest and awareness are growing across the board: energy efficiency, global warming and climate change, the carbon footprint, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, smart grids, renewable energy sources, micro-generation, . . . and the list goes on. As PES, we are ideally positioned to provide technical leadership for the power and energy industry that can significantly impact the world. As an organization, we are poised for worldwide membership growth and expanded services as we serve an energy-intensive global economy that is increasingly interested in becoming “green” and needs our expertise and guidance.

A New Name To effectively provide leadership in the emerging context of energy reliability and the environmental impact of growing energy use, PES’s role, involvement and image require clarification. To this end, a society name change to IEEE Power and Energy Society has been proposed as a means of better representDigital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPE.2007.912302

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IEEE power & energy magazine

ing our current direction and goals. This name change was tested last June in online surveys for members, nonmembers, and students. Respondents were generally in favor of the change, with notable increased interest in PES membership from students and respondents from nonU.S. countries. The PES Governing Board has approved the name change, and the other IEEE Society presidents have been unanimous in their support. I ask you for your support of the Society name change as reflected in the revised PES constitution, which will be submitted for a membership vote in early 2008. To summarize, the new name, IEEE Power and Energy Society: ✔ better reflects our existing mission, scope, and field of interest ✔ is more relevant to current interests and more closely aligned with global needs ✔ reflects the IEEE Power & Energy Magazine title ✔ positions us for increased interaction and external collaboration ✔ provides a framework for embracing emerging technologies ✔ maintains the PES acronym and identity

✔ appeals to the “societal” interests

of potential members.

Recruitment Our goals have been structured to acknowledge emerging industry trends. Currently, the average age of PES members is about eight years older than the average age of all IEEE members. Clearly, we must attract the young professionals who are entering the industry around the world. It’s essential to recruit and retain these young professionals and encourage them to become involved in all facets of our society. To attract and retain this rising generation, PES needs to have a positive image and offer opportunities for these potential members to network and communicate in the manner they are accustomed to. The society name change is one step in the right direction for creating an image that appeals to this generation. Other image enhancement efforts are also underway. ✔ Survey results have shown that the rising generation of potential new members values education and online functionality. To attract their interest, our PES

As PES, we are ideally positioned to provide technical leadership for the power and energy industry that can significantly impact the world.

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Web sites need to be accurate and up to date to convey developments and showcase accomplishments. Therefore, technical committees and chapters need Web masters to maintain their Web sites. Efforts are also underway to improve the PES Web site usability and make our value proposition clearer so it is easier for members and visitors to find desired information. Functionality improvements under consideration include an online membership referral program, ecards to follow-up and provide reminders, a “relationship marketing” database to send targeted messages to those with particular interests, and customized blogging and social networking environments to help brand PES in the virtual world and provide a place to ask questions and get answers. ✔ To provide clearer focus in this area, a new position on the Governing Board has been created: the VP of Membership and Image. The function of this position is to build the image of power engineering and PES to attract members from among the future technical workforce, to develop a communication channel with industry managers, to boost the involvement of our Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) members, to provide guidance for Web site upgrades, to manage the student job board (www.PEScareers.org), and to provide recruitment tools. ✔ Also important to the young professional is education. PES now offers distinguished lecturers, tutorials, stand-alone courses, and online “expert now” courses. We are ideally positioned to share expertise and are embarking upon an effort to inventory existing materials to build a comprehensive educational suite for members and nonmembers. We are striving to become the preferred source for continuing education credits (CEUs) in our industry. While stand-alone classes will receive the most emphasis in the next couple of years, efforts will be underway to develop more comprehensive online offerings. If you are interested in organizing an educational offering, please contact the VP of Education, Prabha S. Kundur at [email protected].

Energy Initiatives Another industry trend is the rapidly expanding interest in maximizing energy efficiency and pursuing workable renewable energy alternatives. In many respects, we are already providing technical leadership in this area, although many more opportunities exist to enhance communications regarding our efforts and accomplishments, increase collaborative efforts and provide more timely deliverables. Some of the PES energy initiatives already underway include addressing energy-rating standards for batteries, characterizing and assessing emerging energy storage devices, developing guides, standards and modeling techniques for wind power and its interconnections, publicizing new energy conversion and storage methods, developing calculation methodologies

for wind capacity credits, and initiating operational changes to accommodate wind generation and other renewable energy sources into energy market structures. Indeed, the November 2008 issue of this publication will be devoted to the subject of energy efficiency. In short, we are already deeply involved in key energy issues; however, to be successful in this vast arena, we clearly cannot do it alone. ✔ Over the next two years, we will need to increase our collaborative efforts, both within PES and with other organizations and IEEE Societies. We have, of course, already established successful collaborative arrangements. For example, storage systems are seen as a vital component for the future electricity infrastructure. PES is working with outside organizations, such as the Electricity Storage Association, to address this area. In other

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instances, opportunities for collaboration are yet to be defined. To incubate ideas and facilitate collaboration, a new position titled VP of New Initiatives and Outreach has been added to the PES Board. This position is responsible for enhancing communication channels with industry leadership and identifying new opportunities to cosponsor conferences as well as creating opportunities for new standards, guidelines, publications, and educational and on-line offerings. In addition, this new position will be responsible for nurturing new organizational concepts, building momentum, and ultimately recommending the infrastructure changes needed to sustain these PES outreach efforts. ✔ As stated earlier, we will be seeking more opportunities to co-sponsor conferences, especially those

featuring topical themes to showcase our accomplishments and to provide expanded materials for our members. While we are good at conference organization, we will be working to better organize sessions to efficiently utilize meeting space and to rapidly plan, market, and hold meetings to showcase emerging themes and technologies. Chapters are encouraged to provide leadership for meeting planning and coordination so we can increase regional meetings to gain a greater worldwide presence. If you are interested in doing so, please contact VP of Chapters Enrique Tejera at [email protected]. ✔ An example of expanded conference opportunities and collaboration is our plan to work with the IEEE Industry Application Society (IAS) on joint conferences on


alternative energy. Specifically, two conferences will be targeted for 2009. Although specific agendas have yet to be determined, the goal is for IAS to bring its expertise on energy conversion and interface and PES to contribute our expertise on integration, operation, and planning. The conferences are tentatively scheduled as follows: —1st/2nd quarter 2009: Europe —3rd/4th quarter 2009: North America. If you are interested in assisting with organization and logistics, please

contact the VP of Meetings John Paserba at [email protected].

A society name change to IEEE Power and Energy Society has been proposed as a means of better representing our current direction and goals.

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Collaborations

Another recognized industry trend is the need for practical, application-oriented materials, especially in the regions experiencing the most rapid growth. PES is ideally positioned to transfer industry experience and best practices while building membership. Several efforts are underway or being contemplated to expand our ability to provide members with this kind of practical information. ✔ At the Joint Technical Committee meeting in January 2008, IAS will introduce the color book re-write

and ask PES members to contribute where possible. Through these collaborative efforts, opportunities for joint IAS/PES meetings and authorship will increase, creating the basis for a jointly sponsored four-day power engineering tutorial that would be offered in 2008. The tutorial will likely cover protection, distribution, power quality, and utilization of electrical energy; it will be administered by active joint chapters around the world. If you are interested in contributing to this effort, please contact the VP of Technical Activities, Paula Traynor [email protected]. ✔ To enhance our global profile, more offerings with immediate practical application are needed. Toward this end, we are looking at promoting practical “case study” presentations and best practices sessions within the Chapters.


Materials could be entered into IEEE Xplore and shared on a chapter-to-chapter network to leverage the material across PES. In addition, a Chapter competition could be introduced for the best content. Ultimately, this material could be used to develop an online journal with graphics to help convey practical application and with minimal focus on proofs and theorems. If you are interested in pursuing this vision, please contact the VP of Technical Information Services Mohammad Shahidehpour at [email protected]. ✔ Technical committees can survey the world to determine needs for new standards, guides, and practical application materials. We can use this information to highlight unmet needs and create worldwide standards that can function within the ever-evolving global economy. ✔ More tutorials, stand-alone courses and Webinars are need-

ed to convey practical, application-oriented materials. An example of success in this arena occurred at the July 2007 Power Africa conference, where nearly 300 attendees stayed two days following the official end of the conference to attend practical tutorials. Another example of practical educational offerings includes three Expert Now Webinar courses which were developed or are in development in collaboration with IAS focusing on: —cyber security of substation control and diagnostic systems —power quality —substation integration and automation.

Our Goals The PES goals for the foreseeable future address such broad-based industry trends as the growing interest in worldwide energy issues, the

changing demographics within our industry, and a desire to better understand practical applications. PES will seek to improve our efficiency in facilitating technical activities and standards making, increase the number of conferences in geographic and technical growth areas, and strive to expand the PES education portfolio. In addition, there will be renewed emphasis on the Web site and image enhancement to attract new members. All of this will be done within the context of visibly embracing energy issues and other emerging themes. To be world leaders, we must seize technical opportunity as it emerges and promote our expertise. I will be working diligently to promote PES, starting by again asking for your vote in favor of the proposed name change to the IEEE Power and Energy Society. I also encourage you to share your ideas and get involved by contacting me at [email protected] or specific PES leaders listed in this magazine’s masthead. p&e

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