System Dynamics and the Electric Power Industry

System dynamics has been used extensively to aid in resource planning in the electric power industry. The many applications constitute a major body of work that has proven useful to large and small power companies as well as to government agencies at the local, state and federal level. The work has been performed by utility analysts, government planners, consultants and academics. One of my recent publications on electric power was honored with the 1996 Jay Wright Forrester Award. This article documents the major points in my award address to the 1996 International System Dynamics Conference. It summarizes the impressive body of work that system dynamics practitioners have accumulated over the past several decades. It gives my interpretation of the important and unique features of the system dynamics approach. I argue also that we have contributed to useful change in the electric power industry. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.