INTERVIEW THE MAN BEHIND THE SELF- HEALING GRID In an interview with Dr. S. Massoud Amin, the Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Minnesota, discusses his early career in the development and evolution of the self-healing grid and how he sees the smart grid evolving. MI: With 20+ years’ experience in the smart grid sector and having conceived and articulated the vision of the smart self-healing grid – how has the smart grid of today met/exceeded your expectations compared to your initial design of the potential capabilities of a future smart self-healing grid? MA: To begin with a brief history, from 1982- 1997 I worked on several projects with NASA- Ames, McDonnell Douglas, Boeing and the US Air Force on command/control, predictive analytics, optimisation and stabilisation of aircraft as well as, interdependent logistical and combat systems. My work in aeronautics involved combining mathematical foundations of nonlinear dynamical complex systems, differential game theory, stochastic optimisation, dynamic risk assessment and artificial intelligence implemented with overlaid networks of sensing, and secure communications and controls. 52 These foundations formed the basis of the self-healing concept. As my research continued, I moved from studying the survival of individual aircraft to the survival of squadrons and large-scale complex networks, looking at how groups and networks can keep mission effectiveness when critical components, like fueling, go down. I discovered how power systems and interdependent coupled networks for fuel supply, energy and power and communication and energy markets, could be retrofitted or designed to automatically stabilise, optimise and correct themselves. When I joined the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in 1998, I had already been working on the self-healing concept for several years. However, the vision was articulated through the EPRI research advisory committee. The original vision of the self-healing grid was a lot more aggressive with the success of research and development programmes for the electric power industry – including the EPRI/DOD Complex Interactive Networks/Systems Initiative (CIN/SI). The goal of the project, which took place between 1998 and 2002, was to retrofit US critical infrastructures and to build integrated networks that were secure, robust and self-healing, by developing and deploying layers of secure sensing, high-confidence communications, and automation networks. The vision was to transform the electric power system into a “smart grid” – an integrated, self-healing and electronically-controlled secure and resilient power system. If you had asked me 18 years ago how long it would take for smart grid deployments to materialise –using available resources, phasing in real-time information and systems – my initial prediction would have been around 2010. Additionally,while there have been widespread smart grid efforts globally in Europe, Japan, China, Korea, India and the Americas, progress has mostly occurred in the past six to seven years and is steady, but slower than what is realistically possible. The vision was to transform the electric power system into a “smart grid” – an integrated, self-healing and electronically-controlled secure and resilient power system” METERING INTERNATIONAL ISSUE – 3 | 2015