Electric Power Systems and Markets
A Conceptual Introduction to Electricity, Competition, and Capacity for the Nonelectrical ProfessionalBy Grace Kimathi
Length12h 43m
About this audiobook
Open the black box of electric power—without a single differential equation.
You work with the power industry, negotiate its contracts, or write its rules, but the system itself has always been a black box. This book opens it. In plain language, it explains what voltage and power really are, how generators differ in the only ways that matter operationally, and why power flows where physics sends it rather than where a contract says. You follow the grid from substation to meter, watch operators balance supply and demand second by second, and see how a small fault becomes a cascading outage.
Then you learn the commercial layer that sits on top of the physics: day-ahead and real-time auctions, locational prices, congestion, ancillary services, capacity obligations, reserve margins, tariffs, and demand charges. The final chapter covers renewables, storage, and electrification—the forces reshaping the system today. Whether you are a lawyer, analyst, policy staffer, or manager, this conceptual introduction gives you the vocabulary and mental models to work confidently with engineers, traders, and regulators.
What you will learn:
• What voltage, current, power, and energy mean in practical terms—and why they matter for contracts and operations
• How generators differ in the only ways that matter operationally: dispatchability, ramp rate, and cost structure
• Why power flows according to physics, not contracts, and what that means for transmission and congestion
• How the grid delivers electricity from substation to meter, and how distribution shapes customer service
• How operators balance supply and demand second by second, and what happens when they fail
• How reliability is measured, how outages cascade, and who is responsible for keeping the lights on
• How wholesale energy markets work: day-ahead and real-time auctions, locational marginal prices, and congestion
• How ancillary services, capacity markets, and reserve margins ensure resource adequacy
• How retail rates, tariffs, and demand charges are set—and how they affect your bill
Who this book is for: Lawyers, analysts, policy staff, and managers in the energy sector who need a conceptual understanding of electric power systems and markets without the mathematics. If you work with the power industry but are not an engineer, this book is your guide to the language, logic, and economics of electricity.
Audiobook details
GenreTechnology, Business and Economics
Length12 hrs 43 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateSep 27, 2026
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Electric Power Systems and Markets
2Foreword
3Preface
4About This Book
5Important Safety Notice
Show all chaptersShow less
6Chapter 1: Electricity in Plain Terms
71.1 Voltage, Current, and the Water Analogy
81.2 Power, Energy, and Why the Bill Uses Both
91.3 Direct and Alternating Current
101.4 Why Supply Must Match Demand Instantly
111.5 Reading a One-Line Diagram
121.6 Units, Prefixes, and Order-of-Magnitude Sense
13Chapter 2: Generation Resources
142.1 The Four Numbers That Describe Any Generator
152.2 Thermal Plants: Coal, Gas, and Combined Cycle
162.3 Hydroelectric and Pumped Storage
172.4 Nuclear Plants
182.5 Wind and Solar
192.6 Battery Storage
20Chapter 3: The Transmission Grid
213.1 Conductors, Towers, and Voltage Classes
223.2 Transformers and Why We Change Voltage
233.3 Substations and Switching
243.4 Impedance and the Path Power Actually Takes
253.5 Losses, Limits, and Interconnection
26Chapter 4: Distribution and the Customer
274.1 From Substation to Feeder
284.2 Service Transformers and Service Voltages
294.3 Meters and What They Record
304.4 Customer Load Shapes
31Chapter 5: Keeping Supply and Demand Balanced
325.1 Economic Dispatch
335.2 Frequency as the Balance Signal
345.3 Operating Reserves and Inertia
355.4 Automatic Generation Control
365.5 The Daily Load and Dispatch Curve
37Chapter 6: Reliability and Outages
386.1 Contingency Planning and the N-1 Standard
396.2 Protective Relaying
406.3 How Cascading Outages Develop
416.4 Restoration and Reliability Statistics
42Chapter 7: Who Runs the System
437.1 Vertically Integrated Utilities
447.2 Independent System Operators and Regional Transmission Organizations
457.3 Regulators and the Planning Cycle
467.4 Regulated and Restructured Regions
47Chapter 8: Wholesale Energy Markets
488.1 The Day-Ahead Auction
498.2 The Real-Time Market and Two-Settlement
508.3 Marginal Pricing and Locational Prices
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