Research
Research Initiatives
Our current, innovative and balanced research efforts in the energy, telecom, water and leadership sectors to help you better understand issues confronting public utilities and regulatory agencies.
- Learn more about the Digital Markets Initiative, where we examine the business and regulatory implications of the growth of digital markets.
- Project Navigate is an in-depth exploration into the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA). This initiative aims to dissect the broad implications of these regulations for the digital market, emphasizing their impact on innovation, competition, and consumer rights.
- There are no best practices. All we can decide is what to try next. Check out PURC’s Next Practices Live series where we interview experts, executives, and regulatory professionals on their next practices.
Student Research Opportunities
PURC is committed to engaging students across disciplines. Students interested in research opportunities are encouraged to explore our website, including the working papers database, to learn more about our faculty and areas of expertise. Students can then complete the student research application for consideration.
Customized Research
Customized research projects are individually designed to help you identify the best solutions to the pressing issues you face today.
PURC Blog
PURC faculty highlight cutting-edge topics in utility regulation, infrastructure services and how technology affects the economy.
Resources
Topics and concepts that are essential to help you establish a conceptual framework for evaluating policy alternatives, including our highly regarded BoKIR (Body of Knowledge on Infrastructure Regulation) which summarizes some of the best thinking on infrastructure policy.
Looking for a research paper or presentation?
Research in Electricity Infrastructure Hardening
The Public Utility Research Center assisted Florida’s electric utilities by coordinating a three-year research effort, begun in 2006, in the area of hardening the electric infrastructure to better withstand and recover from hurricanes.
Projects in this effort include (1) research on undergrounding existing electric distribution facilities by surveying the current literature, performing case analyses of Florida underground projects, and developing a model for projecting the benefits and costs of converting overhead facilities to underground; (2) data gathering and analysis of hurricane winds in Florida and the possible expansion of a hurricane simulator that can be used to test hardening approaches; and (3) an investigation of effective approaches for vegetation management.
The effort is the result of the Florida Public Service Commission’s Order No. PSC-06-00351-PAA-EI in April 2006 directing each investor-owned electric utility to establish a plan that increases collaborative research to further the development of storm resilient electric utility infrastructure and technologies that reduce storm restoration costs and outages to customers. This order directed them to solicit participation from municipal electric utilities and rural electric cooperatives in addition to available educational and research organizations.
“The Commission is committed to ensuring that all Floridians receive safe utility services—before, during, and after storms. By insisting that utility companies increase their coordination with local governments and implement effective storm hardening plans, the FPSC is helping to develop a culture of storm preparedness in Florida,” said Commission Chairman Matthew M. Carter II.
Research Sponsors:
- Florida Power & Light Company
- Duke Energy
- Tampa Electric Company
- Gulf Power Company
- Florida Public Utilities Company
- Florida Municipal Electric Association
- Florida Electric Cooperatives Association
- Lee County Electric Cooperative, Inc.
Visit the Florida Public Service Commission’s Storm Hardening Activities site.
June 9, 2006:
- Final Report
- Survey Results: Question 1 | Questions 2-6
Industry Presentations:
- J.R. “Pepe” Diaz, Reliability Engineering Mgr., Power Systems Distribution, FPL (slides)
- Jason Cutliffe, Manager, Distribution Asset Performance, Progress Energy Florida (slides)
- Alan McDaniel, Project Services Manager, Gulf Power Company (slides)
- T.J. Szelistowski, Director, Transmission & Distribution Operations, TECO (slides)
- Jorge Puentes, Electric Operations Mgr., Florida Public Utilities Company (slides)
Research Presentations:
- Dr. Kurt Gurley, University of Florida (slides)
- Dr. Steinar J. Dale, Florida State University (slides)
- Dr. Alex Domijan, Jr., University of South Florida (slides)
- Calvin Stewart, Davies Consulting (slides)
- Dr. Francis M. Lavelle, Applied Research Associates (slides)
- Dr. Seth Guikema, Texas A&M (slides)
- Dr. Rachel Davidson, Cornell University (slides)
Abstracts:
- Hurricane Simulator on ABC The University of Florida’s hurricane simulator was featured on ABC’s Good Morning America on June 3, 2008
- UF Hurricane Simulator on the CNN network
The University of Florida’s hurricane simulator was featured on the CNN network on May 30, 2007. The device, which is the world’s largest portable hurricane wind and rain simulator, is being used to test the durability of structures in the face of hurricane force wind and rain. An earlier version of the hurricane simulator was featured at the June 9, 2006, workshop on hurricane hardening research. Additional information on the hurricane simulator, which is part of a larger hurricane research effort in the Florida Coastal Monitoring Program, can be found on the UF News website. The hurricane simulator was also featured in an article in the Gainesville Sun. - WeatherFlow Completes First Phase of Hurricane Network