Power grid innovations in Malta will not only advance utility operations, but improve quality of life on the island for generations to come.

On the Mediterranean island of Malta, with a population of about 400,000 people on a land mass of just over 300 square kilometers, power, water and the economy are intricately linked. The country depends on electrically powered desalination plants for over half of its water supply. In fact, about 75 percent of the cost of water from these plants on Malta is directly related to energy production. Meanwhile, rising sea levels threaten Malta's underground freshwater source.

Just as global demand for energy is steadily increasing, so too, are the recognized costs of power generation. A recent report about the possibility of creating a low-emissions future by Australia's Treasury noted that electricity production currently accounts for 34 percent of the nation's net greenhouse gas emissions, and that it was the fastest-growing contributor to greenhouse gas emissions over the period from 1990 to 2006 [1].

Everything can be done, but not in the timeframe envisioned by politicians.

The U.S. utility industry - particularly the electric-producing branch of it, there also are natural gas and water utilities - has found itself in a new, and very uncomfortable, position. Throughout the first quarter of 2009 it was front and center in the political arena.

The manner in which the nuclear power industry trains and prepares the next generation of workers is vital to its revival and longevity.

The nuclear power industry is facing significant employee turnover, which may be exacerbated by the need to staff new nuclear units. To maintain a highly skilled workforce to safely operate U.S. nuclear plants, the industry must find ways to expedite training and qualification, enhance knowledge transfer to the next generation of workers, and develop leadership talent to achieve excellent organizational effectiveness.

Online transient stability control systems can increase stability in utility transmission networks while maximizing the efficiency of both the transmission grids and the generation sources supplying them.

For the last few decades the growth of the world's population and its corresponding increased demand for electrical energy has created a huge increase in the supply of electrical power. However, for logistical, environmental, political and social reasons, this power generation is rarely near its consumers, necessitating the growth of very large and complex transmission networks. The addition of variable wind energy in remote locations is only exacerbating the situation.

Even with the current raft of economic problems, the U.S. utility infrastructure can be upgraded with the help of progressive regulatory practices on the state level.

With utility infrastructure aging rapidly, reliability of service is threatened. Yet the economy is hurting, unemployment is accelerating, environmental mandates are rising, and the investment portfolios of both seniors and soon-to-retire boomers have fallen dramatically. Everyone agrees change is needed. The question is: how?

In every one of these respects, state regulators have the power to effect change. In fact, the policy-setting authority of the states is not only an essential complement to federal energy policy, it is a critical building block for economic recovery.

The smart grid promises to deliver a broad range of innovative network and market services to the global community, but challenges abound.

Energy systems in both mature and developing economies around the world are undergoing fundamental changes. There are early signs of a physical transition from the current centralized energy generation infrastructure toward a distributed generation model, where active network management throughout the system creates a responsive and manageable alignment of supply and demand.

An untapped source of power for today’s utilities.

Electric utility companies today constantly struggle to find a balance between generating sufficient power to satisfy their customers' dynamic load requirements and minimizing their capital and operating costs. They spend a great deal of time and effort attempting to optimize every element of their generation, transmission and distribution systems to achieve both their physical and economic goals.

Faced with supply chain problems and insufficient government support, wind power operators continue to herald their industry’s promise.

In recent years, exponential demand for new U.S. wind energy-generating facilities has nearly doubled America's installed wind generation. By the end of 2007, our nation's total wind capacity stood at more than 16,000 megawatts (MW) - enough to power more than 4.5 million average American homes each year. And in 2007 alone, America's new wind capacity grew 45 percent over the previous year - a record 5,244 MW of new projects and more new generating capacity than any other single electricity resource contributed in the same year.