Applicability of neural networks to industrial and commercial power systems: a tutorial overview

This paper is intended as a tutorial overview of neural network applications that are relevant to industrial and commercial power systems. The paper is arranged to provide the practicing engineer with answers to the following questions: (1) why would a neural network be needed?;(2) what is required to use a neural network?; (3) how are neural networks superior to conventional methods?; and (4) what type of results are produced by neural networks? Introductory knowledge needed for understanding the application of artificial neural networks is provided and numerous example applications are referenced. The paper is purposefully written without "state-of-the-art" terminology for the benefit of practicing engineers in facilities today who may not be familiar with neural networks. This paper is expected to be the first in a series that will provide a similar presentation of expert and fuzzy-logic systems.