Nick Jenkins joined UMIST in 1992 and was appointed Professor of Electrical Energy and Power Systems in 1998. His previous career included 14 years industrial experience, of which 5 years were in developing countries. He has worked for Wind Energy Group, BP Solar and Ewbank and Partners on both conventional and renewable power systems. His present research interests include renewable energy and embedded generation. During 1998/99 he was the secretary of a CIRED international working group on dispersed generation.

Ron Allan is Professor of Electrical Energy Systems at UMIST. His interests centre on assessing power system reliability and customer worth of supply. He has authored/co-authored over 200 technical papers and three reliability textbooks. As a result of his research, he was awarded a DSc in 1987 and the IEE Institution Premium in 1996. He is a Fellow of the IEE, the IEEE and the Safety and Reliability Society, and is currently Deputy Chairman of the IEE Power Division.

Peter Crossley joined UMIST in 1991 where he is currently a Reader specialising in Power System Protection and Control. His previous career included 13 years with ALSTOM T&D where he was involved in the design and application of protection relays. He graduated from UMIST in 1977 with a BSc degree and the University of Cambridge in 1983 with a PhD degree. He has authored/co-authored over 100 technical papers and is a member of various IEE, IEEE and CIGRE committees on Protection. In 2001 he will be the Chairman of...