Biography

Stakeholders operating the U.S. power grid are navigating a new level of complexity as advanced technologies and renewable energy sources are being integrated into an aging infrastructure at an unprecedented pace. Today’s electric grid requires significant modernization to maintain reliability and adapt to the evolving energy landscape.

For more than 35 years, Eric Andersen has been designing, building, testing, and evaluating innovative solutions and deploying novel approaches and technologies to meet the nation’s most pressing energy challenges and needs. Today he’s working to overcome the obstacles of modernizing the power grid for reliable, resilient, secure, and affordable energy delivery. 

Andersen oversees a dynamic portfolio of projects that advance research on the next-generation electric grid, and is the director of the Electricity Infrastructure Operations Center (EIOC), a facility used for collaboration in the development of resilient energy delivery systems. 

The EIOC serves as a unique platform for research and development, providing a controlled environment for testing and validating new grid-related technologies under real-time operating conditions. Essential resources provided in the EIOC include: 

  • Two fully functional control room environments
  • Industry-grade software products for power systems engineers to study grid operations and planning 
  • Curated real and synthetic data sets
  • Federated testbeds for creating new products, and testing and evaluation of new technologies
  • Dedicated, externally facing internet connection to technology evaluation, real-time simulations, system operation efficiencies, cognitive systems, and human-machine interfaces. 

Focusing on improving situational awareness, grid resilience, and cybersecurity, the EIOC is a valuable tool available to utilities, vendors, federal and state agencies, tribal governments, universities, and U.S. territories for critical energy research and training.

By using the EIOC as a technology pipeline, Andersen and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory team create realistic grid event simulations and conduct studies on factors influencing system interactions, including human-in-the-loop systems and machine interfaces, to ensure that both technology and user interaction are optimized for peak performance. His expertise in cognitive systems engineering and user-centered design further elevates the practical impact of these projects. 

Disciplines and Skills

  • Engineering and project management
  • Testbed management
  • Systems integration
  • Grid operations
  • Transmission reliability
  • Grid telemetry
  • Risk frameworks and analysis
  • Field deployments
  • Test and evaluation
  • Grid cybersecurity
  • Mechanical design, including first-of-a-kind design-build systems

Education

BS in mechanical engineering, Washington State University

Affiliations and Professional Service

  • Project Management Institute
  • Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Publications

2022 

Fallon, C., Jefferson, B., Andersen, E. 2022 “An Analysis of Grid Operator Survey Responses: Inexperience, Workload and Fatigue in the Control Room,” Resilience Week, National Harbor, MD, USA: IEEE Xplore. doi: 10.1109/RWS55399.2022.9984018

Biswas, S., Follum, J., Andersen, E., Banning, J., Big Data Analysis of Synchrophasor Data: Outcomes of Research Activities Supported by DOE FOA. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 2022. doi: 10.2172/1959775

O’Brien, J., Cassiadoro, M., Becejac, T., Sheble, G., Follum, J., Agrawal, U., Andersen, E., Touhiduzzaman, Md., Dagle, J. Electric Grid Blackstart: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 2022. doi: 10.2172/1862969

2021

Banning, J., Follum, J. Andersen, E. FOA 1861 Data Curation Overview. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 2021. doi: 10.2172/1860940

2018

Scholtz, J.C., Franklin, L., Ashok, A., LeBlanc, K., Bonebrake, C., Andersen, E., Cassiadoro, M. 2018. “Employing a User-Centered Design Process for Cybersecurity Awareness in the Power Grid.” Journal of Human Performance in Extreme Environments, vol. 14. doi: 10.7771/2327-2937.1094

2017

LeBlanc, K., Ashok, A., Franklin, L., Scholtz, J., Andersen, E., Cassiadoro, M. 2017. “Characterizing cyber tools for monitoring power grid systems: what information is available and who needs it?,” 2017 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Banff, AB, Canada. doi: 10.1109/SMC.2017.8123164

2016

Scholtz, J., Franklin, L., LeBlanc, K., Andersen, E. 2016. “Cybersecurity Awareness in the Power Grid,” International Conference on Human Factors in Cybersecurity, Orlando, FL, USA. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-41932-9_15

2013

Anheier, N.C., Suter, J. D., Qiao, H., Andersen, E., Berglin, E. J., Bliss, M., Cannon, B. D., Devanathan, R., Mendoza, A., Sheen, D. M. Technical Readiness and Gaps Analysis of Commercial Optical Materials and Measurement Systems for Advanced Small Modular Reactors. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 2013. doi: 10.2172/1095436

2006

Andersen, E., Mathews, R., Sandness, G.A. Eddy Current Imaging of Machined Grooves on a Nickel Wave Strip. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 2006. doi: 10.2172/1049031

2005

Andersen, E., Samuel, T., Mullen, O.D. 2005. “Straddle Carrier Radiation Portal Monitoring,” Nondestructive Evaluation for Health Monitoring and Diagnostics, San Diego, CA, USA. doi: 10.1117/12.606664