This was a very well-written textbook covering the operation, both technically, organizationally, and financially, of large-scale power systems. Full understanding of most chapters will require further reading of other texts, but overall the main functions and issues surrounding the power system are highlighted well. Topics include: the organization of utility entities, economic dispatch of power systems, the unit commitment problem, power flow in a transmission system, optimal power flow, state estimation, generation control, and short-term demand forecasting. The text is a nice combination of written description, mathematical development and understandable examples carried throughout the book. Reading of isolated chapters can probably be done fine, but I found the ordering of the material to work pretty well and helped me understand the motivation for the work described. I would like to see further information covering the forecasting and control of renewable energy assets, energy storage, and demand response (especially when it comes to power system security, optimal power flow, and organizational jurisdiction). Most of the text assumed conventional thermal or hydro generation with their representative cost functions. Additionally, there was hardly any discussion on how distributed generation plays a role in large power systems.
This book provides an introduction to economic dispatch and unit commitment as regards power system balancing with respect to production cost modeling, control of generation, multiple-utility interchange and power system security. Optimal power flow methods are reworked as applied to linear sensitivity analysis and security-constrained power flow control.