Traditional energy management system (EMS) plays an indispensable role in control centers of electric power systems. However, it also has several shortcomings, including lack of real-time closed-loop control, unreliable functional modules, and difficult to exchange data. The electric hybrid control theory (EHCT) has been proposed as an innovative and effective means to overcome these shortcomings. This paper argues that the EHCT provides a theoretical foundation for the advanced energy management system (AEMS) that can achieve multi-objective, near-optimal, and closed-loop control of electric power grids. This paper also discusses the significance for control centers to evolve from the traditional EMS to the AEMS. Furthermore, this paper points out that the traditional EMS can be considered as an integral part of the AEMS and that the AEMS can be built upon the traditional EMS. Thus, the resources that are currently available can be fully utilized to achieve near-optimal and closed-loop control of power system operations.hybrid control, multi-objective near-optimal control, advanced energy management system, event driven A modern power system is generally composed of hundreds of thousands of components and may cover a vast geographical region and have very complex control strucutre. In practical operation, a power system is also subject to many disturbances that cannot be accurately forecasted. Consequently, it is a very difficult and arduous task to control and manage a modern power system so that it can reliably and securely provide high quality yet economic power supply. The energy management system (EMS) [1] is a key element in power system control centers. Mainstream EMS's currently in operation in power system control centers were developed in the 1990s, when computer technologies and power system control theories were rather limited. The main aim of the EMS is to help dispatchers monitor and analyze the operation states of electric power grids, while the adjustment and control of grid operation modes rely heavily on dispatchers' experiences. The status quo is far from the desired closedloop control.With the rapid expansion of modern power systems as a result of growing economy comes the increase in scale and complexity. It is becoming evident that it would be impractical for power system operations to satisfy multiobjectives such as security, high quality and economy by means of dispatchers' manual adjustment and control only. The advanced energy management system [2,3] (AEMS) was proposed and developed independently by power system researchers in China. The AEMS can coordinate all controllable resources in power grids in order to achieve multi-objective, near-optimal, and closedloop control of power grid operation.Several blackouts [4,5] in recent years have indicated that the development of power system control theory and technology especially the automation level in power