The series Advances in Industrial Control aims to report and encourage technology transfer in control engineering. The rapid development of control technology impacts all areas of the control discipline. New theory, new controllers, actuators, sensors, new industrial processes, computer methods, new applications, new philosophies ... , new challenges. Much of this development work resides in industrial reports, feasibility study papers and the reports of advanced collaborative projects. The series offers an opportunity for researchers to present an extended exposition of such new work in all aspects of industrial control for wider and rapid dissemination. In Europe, and soon in the United States, power system deregulation is becoming widespread. This involves the privatisation of former public power utilities and the creation of power markets. The United Kingdom has recently undergone this transformation and the countries of the European Union are being encouraged to follow this deregulation policy. This volume Advanced Load Dispatch for Power Systems and its companion volume Control of Modem Integrated Power Systems both by Professor E. Mariani and Professor S.S. Murthy are therefore very timely additions to the power system literature and to the Advances in Industrial Control series.

In this comprehensive and systematically presented text, the various aspects of modern power system operation and control are discussed. Covered in the volume are: computer configurations and control aids, load-frequency control and automatic generation c ontrol, reactive power planning and scheduling procedure, security monitoring, and control under emergency conditions. Also presented are case study reports on power grid failures in different countries, examining how they occurred, how they were handled, and what lessons that they can provide. A "defence" plan against similar major disturbances is detailed, including the overall system architecture adopted and the processing and communication sub-systems.