Electric Utility Resource Planning：Economics, Reliability, and Decision-Making

A resource planner at a Florida electrical utility for over 30 years, Sim explains to people who work for utilities and to people who do not but are interested in energy issues, the process of how electric utilities plan for future electricity production or acquisition. He discusses how an electric utility actually works, utility resource planning in general, reliability analyses, supply options, demand side management options, and other factors that can complicate resource planning analysis. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Dr. Steven Sim has worked in the field of energy analysis since the mid-1970s. After graduating from the University of Miami, Florida, with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics in 1973 and 1975, respectively, he earned a doctorate in environmental science and engineering from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1979, with an emphasis on energy. That year, Dr. Sim joined Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), a subsidiary of NextEra Energy, Inc. and one of the largest electric utilities in the United States. Since then, he has conducted, supervised, and/or collaborated on thousands of analyses designed to examine how FPL can best serve its customers given changing circumstances, laws, and regulations.