The power and energy systems group focuses on electricity generation, transmission, and distribution systems to study various design and operation issues for effective utilization of electrical energy. The group also focuses on exploration and applications of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.

One project sponsored by the K-State Electrical Power Affiliates Program focuses on improving the robustness of the power grid through distributed solar and wind generation. The power grid is being evaluated as a complex network with the aim of improving the robustness of the grid against cascading failures by adopting strategies such as intentional detachment of a part of the network to reduce the effect of failure of a node or a link on other connected components of the network. This detached portion can be powered by distributed sources of energy such as wind and solar power. Work is in progress to simulate the cascading effect and to evaluate the impact of topology of the network on the cascading failures.

National Science Foundation provided funding for a project on investigation of influence of environmental factors such as lightning, wind, trees, and squirrels on outages in electricity distribution systems. Several models based on neural networks, wavelet transform, and Bayesian models have been developed to analyze these effects. These models are useful for electric utilities for year-end analysis of the performance of their system. Results of these analyses provide guidance to utilities on future operation and maintenance expenses to improve system performance.