Abstract
Energy policies in the European Union (EU) and its 27 member states respond to three main concerns namely energy security, economic development, and environmental sustainability. All the three "Es'' are pursued simultaneously with some slight differences in emphasizing the mutual importance of these, in particular the cost factors. The legislation of the EU (e. g., ETS-Emission Trading Scheme, directives) increasingly guides the member states' energy policies. However, energy policy directions are still made domestically, for example, on the support on renewable energy technologies. In this work, we look into distributed generation (DG), since it has been grown considerable in the past few years and can be used to partially fulfill renewable energy targets. The policy makers have to make decisions about regulation directives, more specifically they have to change the current regulation in order to incentive the increase in DG. However, these decisions have not only economic impacts but also technical impacts that must be accounted for. In this regard, a decision aid tool would help the policy makers in estimating producer economic impacts, as well as power network technical impacts, of various possible regulation directives. Here, we propose an interactive decision aid tool that models the aforementioned impacts and thus, can be used by policy makers to experiment with different regulation directives before deciding on the ones to set.

Abstract
This paper proposes a new methodology for dynamic security assessment and preventive control. In the first phase, an artificial neural network (ANN) is trained to provide the security status. ANN inputs are settled by a feature selection approach that takes into account the requisites of the control algorithm, to be applied in the second phase. The adaptive control methodology is based on the steepest descent method, where the usual explicit math functions to be dealt with are emulated by the trained ANN. To illustrate the developed approach, the methodology was applied to the control of dynamic security of Madeira island power system. Results attained so far show that the proposed approach was able to find the optimal control actions.

Abstract
fischeri Background: Photodynamic antimicrobial chemotherapy (PACT) combines light, a light-absorbing molecule that initiates a photochemical or photophysical reaction, and oxygen. The combined action of these three components originates reactive oxygen species that lead to microorganisms' destruction. The aim was to evaluate the efficiency of PACT on Vibrio fischeri: 1) with buffer solution, varying temperature, pH, salinity and oxygen concentration values; 2) with aquaculture water, to reproduce photoinactivation (PI) conditions in situ. Methodology/Principal Findings: To monitor the PI kinetics, the bioluminescence of V. fischeri was measured during the experiments. A tricationic meso-substituted porphyrin (Tri-Py(+)-Me-PF) was used as photosensitizer (5 mu M in the studies with buffer solution and 10-50 mu M in the studies with aquaculture water); artificial white light (4 mW cm(-2)) and solar irradiation (40 mW cm(-2)) were used as light sources; and the bacterial concentration used for all experiments was approximate to 10(7) CFU mL(-1) (corresponding to a bioluminescence level of 10(5) relative light units - RLU). The variations in pH (6.5-8.5), temperature (10-25 degrees C), salinity (20-40 g L(-1)) and oxygen concentration did not significantly affect the PI of V. fischeri, once in all tested conditions the bioluminescent signal decreased to the detection limit of the method (approximate to 7 log reduction). The assays using aquaculture water showed that the efficiency of the process is affected by the suspended matter. Total PI of V. fischeri in aquaculture water was achieved under solar light in the presence of 20 mu M of Tri-Py(+)-Me-PF. Conclusions/Significance: If PACT is to be used in environmental applications, the matrix containing target microbial communities should be previously characterized in order to establish an efficient protocol having into account the photosensitizer concentration, the light source and the total light dose delivered. The possibility of using solar light in PACT to treat aquaculture water makes this technology cost-effective and attractive.

Abstract
This paper presents a discrete approach, based on an improved integer version of the evolutionary particle swarm optimization (EPSO) algorithm, to solve the dynamic transmission expansion planning (TEP) problem. TEP corresponds to a mixed integer optimization problem that typically aims at identifying a schedule for transmission additions along an extended planning horizon considering operation and investment costs as well as a reliability index to measure the ability the system has to convey electricity from generation to consumers. After detailing the mathematical formulation of the TEP problem, this paper describes the enhanced EPSO algorithm and details its application to the TEP problem. The paper also includes a Case Study based on the IEEE 24 bus / 38 branch system to illustrate the application of the developed procedure.

Abstract
This paper analyses and discusses the current situation in Portugal and in Spain regarding the procurement and the supply of the ancillary services considered in the Codes for the Operation of these two power systems. This is relevant because Portugal and Spain share a common day ahead and bilateral contract electricity market since 2007. However, several technical activities as the procurement and the provision of Ancillary Services are not yet entirely harmonized and fully integrated and continue to be provided within the control area of each country. Accordingly, this paper discusses three possible approaches that the two TSO's can adopt to further enlarge this integration. Then, tertiary reserve is taken as an example to illustrate the advantages that can be obtained if it is used a common list of bids from the two countries. The Case Study analyses four situations including the present mechanisms used to procure tertiary reserve, as well as the use of a common bid list admitting different values for the capacity of the interconnection lines between the two countries. Based on these results, the paper provides a discussion on the mentioned three integration models addressing their advantages and practical difficulties. © 2011 IEEE.

Abstract
This paper reviews the concepts and the solution algorithm of the Fuzzy DC OPF problem admitting generation costs and load values modeled by fuzzy numbers and details the integration of this problem in the Monte Carlo simulation model. In this sense, the paper describes an hybrid approach in which generation cost and demand uncertainties are represented by fuzzy numbers and the life cycle of the system components is modeled by probabilistic approaches. On this topic, the paper addresses the sampling procedure, the analysis of sampled states, the convergence testing and the computation of the expected values of the system Power Not Supplied and system risk indices. Finally, the paper includes results based on the IEEE 24 bus/38 branch test system to illustrate the proposed approach. © 2011 IEEE.