Electric Power Research Institute

The Electric Power Research Institute, or EPRI , conducts research on issues related to the electric power industry.

EPRI is a nonprofit organization funded by the electric utility industry, founded in 1972 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California. EPRI is primarily a US-based organization, but receives international participation. EPRI's research covers different aspects of electric power generation, delivery and its use.

Following the Northeast blackout of 1965, the Senate held hearings in the early 1970s about the lack of research supporting the power industry. All sectors of the U.S. electricity industry pooled their funds to begin an industry-wide collaborative research program. EPRI was established, as a response, in 1972 as the Electric Power Research Institute. Created as an independent, nonprofit organization designed to manage a broad public-private collaborative research program on behalf of the electric utility industry, the industry’s customers, and society at large. EPRI’s creation was a recognition of the impact of electricity on modern life.

The institute's research and development program spans every aspect of generation, environmental protection, power delivery, retail use, and power markets. EPRI provides services to more than 1000 energy-related organizations in 40 countries. It has more than 900 patents to its credit.

EPRI laid the groundwork in the 1970s for the use of power electronics in the utility system, sometimes known as FACTS (Flexible AC Transmission Systems), established the largest electric and magnetic fields health program in the world and has played a role in resolving scientific questions concerning potential links to cancer. EPRI is in the Advisory Council of the PHEV Research Center and created the world’s largest center for nondestructive testing, used first for nuclear inspection and now increasingly for internal diagnostics of fossil power plants and industrial systems.

EPRI's main inspection programs pertain to PDI's using UT. Other companies such as Sea Test Services provide PDI's for MT, ET, and ACFM. Using extensive test specimens that pertain to all geometries and has as the in-service FFP at 1/4 inch X 1/32 inch depth. There are a total of 20-25 indications in which a inspector must score a 90% for a level II. MT (API RP 2X) and ET (BSI 1711) have POD's of 90% while ACFM only has scored 76%.

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