Power System Planning & Operations

 
New and recent developments are having major impacts on the electric power industry. The rapid development and growth of renewable energy resources such as wind and solar in response to a desire for a greener and more sustainable industry is affecting the structure and operation of the the power system. The smart grid focuses on customer choice and control over the consumption of electricity and has the potential for improved efficiencies but requires significant investments in new technologies. Meanwhile the requirement for a reliable transmission network continues to be a concern and becomes a public issue when things go wrong as a consequence of a wide-area blackout, a large natural disaster or a physical or cyber attack on transmission facilities. The impacts of all these developments affect electricity markets and the regulatory environment and they continue to evolve to meet the changes.

Among the solutions to meet the growth and development of the electricity industry in the midst of a changing environment are upgrades to and expansion of existing transmission systems, the application of equipment based on power electronics (FACTS), the introduction of energy storage devices, improved forecasting techniques, new methods for integrating and controlling renewable energy sources, and technological advances for the smart grid.

The Interest Group focuses on new technologies that enhance the use of existing transmission lines and facilities, adequately prepare for and meet the needs of the future and continue to maintain a high level of reliability.

Topics and Issues

Transmission System Adequacy

• Development of tools and techniques to establish, through historic operating data, the degree of Transmission Systems’ overloading under normal and contingent operating conditions in order to identify appropriate expansion plans
• Exploring the use of compact and multi-voltage line designs for different voltage levels. Compact lines are much smaller and need smaller right-of- ways. They are less expensive, can carry more power and have lower outage rates.
• Examining different types of emerging new conductors with higher operating temperatures and smaller sag to identify the most suitable for use in line upgrading and construction of new lines for different operating voltages.

Planning and Operation Practices

• Review the type and severity of contingencies to which the system is expected to experience, and their probability of occurrence, under current uncertain conditions facing system planners and operators.
• Review the principles on which load shedding systems are implemented in terms of frequency settings, use of the frequency trend elements, size and location of the shed load as well as the speed of the load shedding systems.
• Review of frequency control systems and establish minimum percentages of generation responding to frequency changes under governor action or Automatic Generation Control (AGC).
• Develop schemes that activate load shedding and/or other control actions, based on voltage behavior in order to prevent voltage instability and voltage collapse from occurring.

Means to Increase Transmission Capacity and Security

• Dynamic loading of transmission lines, according to ambient conditions of temperature, wind and sun, without violating clearance criteria or deteriorating conductor properties.
• Methods of effective Life Management of network components over their lifetime. Some the main candidates for these procedures are power transformers, cables and circuit breakers.
• Means of reducing line outages due to short circuits to improve system reliability.
• Means of limiting single phase and three phase short circuit levels of transmission grids to avoid replacing existing breakers and limiting the size of new ones.
• Exploring the possibility of developing FACTS like devices using mechanically switched components, such as vacuum switches instead of solid-state switches. These devices should be able to perform functions currently are performed by FACTS devices where the response speed is not crucial.

Deregulation and Electricity Markets

• Exploring methods of regional optimization of electric production and facility usage across several independently operated control areas and means of management of congestion across these areas.
• Developing financial models for market operation including bidding techniques used by generator owners in order to be able to predict generation dispatching patterns and the resulting power flow in the grid.

Modern Tools and Techniques

• Develop tools and techniques to account for increased uncertainty in load generation patterns due to market operation schemes as well as the spread of new generation sources, which are not under dispatcher control and/or have uncertain availability.
• Develop dynamic models for new types of generation such as Gas Turbines and Combined Cycle units as well as renewable resources such as Wind, Solar and Fuel cells. Models for Wind and Solar Generation have to account for the statistical nature of the energy sources (Wind and Sun).
• Develop means of using wide system monitoring to enhance the ability of operators in tracking system behavior and taking the right measures at early signs for system problems.

Current Projects

• New York State Power Grid Geomagnetic Storm and E3-HEMP Threat - Vulnerability AssessmentsThis project will provide participating utilities with an analysis of the pattern of GIC flows in the power grid for various geomagnetic storm and EMP scenarios. In addition, a brief climatology analysis will be provided for possible storm scenarios in the region, something that GIC monitoring alone is unable to fully resolve.
  
  The developed model will allow the expansion of the study system into adjacent EHV systems. Once developed, the model shall be capable to analyze various GIC blocking and mitigation strategies. This could include analysis of transformer neutral blocking capacitors, transformer neutral blocking resistors, and various operational procedures.
• Criteria for Tapping Bulk System Transmission Lines for Load Supply and Generation ConnectionThe objective of the study is to establish a system dependent set of criteria for the allowable number of load feeding transmission circuits that can be safely tapped off a bulk transmission system circuit, as well as their configuration requirements, without deteriorating system security and reliability.
• Calculation of Short Circuit Currents, Their Attenuation and Corresponding X/R RatiosThe long term objective of the project is to specify circuit breakers (CB) accurately and to maximize the reliable utilization of circuit breakers (CB). The proposed methods will be applicable to all nominal voltages from distribution to ultra high voltage equipment. The short term objective is to determine the total short circuit currents and the energy produced by them in the circuit breaker chambers before the fault current interruption takes place.

Recently Completed Projects