(ii) a load 110.2 for electric power (including for example and without limitation lasers, sensors, electric lights, electric motors, heating and cooling systems, radar, sonar, medical equipment, compressors, pumps, digital systems, communication systems, and other systems requiring electric power for operations).

Power sources 110.1 may include gensets, which are a combination of (i) electric generators and (ii) “prime movers”, which are the fuel-consuming devices that drive the generators (for example, steam turbine engines, combustion turbine engines, reciprocating engines, wind turbines, and nuclear generators). Power sources 110.1 may also include storage batteries, solar power panels, and capacitance-based batteries or ultracapacitors/supercapacitors.

(II) Power electronics building blocks converters (PEBB converters) 500 are employed as part of an overall power distribution system 115. The PEBB converters 500 serve to step up and/or step down voltages, to convert AC currents to DC currents and vice-versa, and to distribute power among different loads 110.2. The power distribution system 115 may include various routing switches RS for routing or controlling system-wide power flow, where the switches RS, in turn and in various embodiments, may sometimes be integrated into the PEBB converters 500. The power distribution system will also include electrical cabling and wires 120, and other elements such as circuit breakers, local power outlets and local power switches (that is, room-level on/off switches), and other elements known in the art and not illustrated in FIG. 1.