4We are very pleased to be asked to co-author this book for a variety of reasons, one of which was that it gave us further opportunity to work together. The scope proposed was very wide with the only significant proviso being that the book should be in a mongraph-style and not a teaching text. This require- ment has given us the opportunity to compile a wide range of relevant material relating to present-day knowledge and application in power system reliability. As many readers will be aware, we have collaborated in many ways over a relatively long period and have co-authored two other books on reliability evaluation. Both of these previous books were structured as teaching texts. This present book is not a discourse on "how to do reliability evaluation" but a discussion on "why it should be done and what can be done and achieved" and as such does not replace or conflict with the previous books. The three books are complementary and each enhances the others. The material contained in this book is not specifically original since it is based on information which we have published in other forms either jointly or as co- authors with various other people, particularly our many research students. We sincerely acknowledge the important contributions made by all these students and colleagues. There are too many to mention individually in this preface but their names appear frequently in the references at the end of each chapter.