What Is IEEE Computer Applications in Power?

IEEE Computer Applications in Power was a peer-reviewed magazine published jointly by the IEEE Computer Society and the IEEE Power Engineering Society, addressing the intersection of computing technology and electric power systems. The publication covered planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of power infrastructure through the lens of computer-based tools and methods. It occupied a specific editorial niche: rather than reporting on power engineering research in isolation, or on computing research in isolation, it focused on the transfer of computational methods into practical power systems work. Its articles were aimed at power engineers who were adopting digital tools as well as computer specialists working on power system applications.

The magazine appeared during a period when digital computers were transforming every phase of power system operation, from real-time energy management systems to offline planning and simulation tools. This transition made a dedicated cross-disciplinary publication both timely and necessary for practitioners navigating the two fields simultaneously.

Editorial Scope and Coverage

The magazine's scope covered a broad range of computing applications in the electric power domain. Load flow analysis, optimal power dispatch, state estimation, fault detection, and system stability simulation were core topics, reflecting the most computationally intensive tasks in power system operation. The publication also addressed computer-aided design tools for substation layout, protection relay coordination software, and geographic information systems applied to transmission and distribution network management. Coverage extended to the hardware side: real-time control computers, programmable logic controllers, and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems for power grid monitoring. The full archive is accessible through IEEE Xplore under publication number 67.

Role of Computing in Power Systems

During the magazine's publication years, the electric power industry was moving from analog relay protection and manual dispatch to digitally integrated energy management systems. Articles in IEEE Computer Applications in Power tracked this transition, documenting early implementations of online load forecasting, automatic generation control, and computer-based protective relaying. The publication served both as a record of the field's progress and as a practical guide for utilities and equipment manufacturers implementing new computer systems. It drew on contributions from both the IEEE Power Engineering Society and the IEEE Computer Society, bridging two communities that had historically published in separate venues.

Legacy and Successor Publication

IEEE Computer Applications in Power was eventually succeeded by IEEE Power and Energy Magazine, which the IEEE Power and Energy Society launched in 2003 to cover the broader practice of power engineering with an accessible, tutorial-style format. The successor publication expanded beyond the specific computing focus to include coverage of policy, grid modernization, renewable integration, and industry practice across the full range of power systems topics. The narrower computing-and-power niche that IEEE Computer Applications in Power addressed is now distributed across several IEEE venues, including the IEEE Transactions on Power Systems for research contributions and IEEE Power and Energy Magazine for practitioner-oriented coverage.

Applications

IEEE Computer Applications in Power addressed computing methods with applications across the electric power industry, including:

• Real-time energy management and automatic generation control in utility control centers
• Offline planning and simulation tools for transmission network expansion
• Computer-aided protection coordination and relay setting analysis
• SCADA and digital monitoring systems for substation and grid operations
• Distribution network management using geographic information systems