Engineering, Economics and Regulation of the Electric Power Sector
MIT's interdisciplinary graduate course examines electric power systems through the lens of regulation, linking engineering, economics, law, and environmental policy. Topics include generation dispatch, demand response, optimal network flows, risk allocation, service reliability, renewable energy integration, ancillary services, tariff design, distributed generation, and rural electrification, studied under both traditional monopoly and competitive market frameworks. Materials come from MIT's Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, the Sloan School of Management, and the Engineering Systems Division, offered through MIT OpenCourseWare under a Creative Commons license. The course draws on case studies of real regulatory frameworks to show how policy choices shape network operations and investment decisions. As with other OCW offerings, materials include lecture notes and assignments but no instructor interaction or certificate.