PSERC Webinar on February 16, 2016

The protection of converter interfaced generation and associated circuits and components is challenging due to (a) insufficient separation between fault and load currents caused by converter interfaced sources, (b) large fault contributions from utility side – small fault contributions from inverter based sources and (c) a requirement to operate in utility connected mode as well as islanded mode. These issues are common for wind systems, PV systems and ?Grids. They are addressed with the proposed dynamic state Estimation Based Protection (EBP) method applied to each component of a converter interfaced system and associated components. The paper discusses the issues, presents the EBP method, the integration of the method with the inverter controls and supplementary controls for the purpose of increasing the reliability of these systems. Several examples are provided which compare the proposed protection method with traditional protection functions and inverter control performance improvements enabled with the proposed supplementary controls. The work presented in this webinar is associated with PSERC projects: S-56, T-55G and T-56G.

PSERC Webinar on March 15, 2016

The U.S. electric grid is perhaps the most critical of all of the U.S. infrastructures. As a result, much of the data needed by researchers to test and validate new tools and techniques on actual power grid models is restricted. While some data is available through nondisclosure agreements, it cannot be freely shared. This limits the ability of the power community to adhere to the basic scientific principle of reproducibility of results by others. The power system models that are publicly available, such as the IEEE 118 bus case, are often inadequate for modern research and development. This talk addresses this problem by discussing the creation of large-scale, geographically-based, fully public synthetic power grid models. The talk covers needed characteristics in these models, how such models can be created, and why they matter both to researchers and also to power engineers with ready access to restricted models of the actual grid.

PSERC Webinar on April 6, 2016

In designing the framework for the next generation Energy Management System (EMS) and analytics, a flexible platform is needed that can simulate the layers of high voltage hardware, the IT hardware, and the various software packages that forms the base on which the applications for operating the grid can run. The base for such a platform has to be the simulation of the power grid itself that can producePhasor Measurement Unit (PMU) measurements with fidelity (such as the time granularity of a transient stability program). On top of this has to be the communication layer needed to move the data from where they are produced to the applications. The management of the data, both static and real-time, is another layer on which the applications layer must reside. In this project we demonstrate the feasibility of such a platform.

The power grid simulation of the platform uses the PowerWorld Dynamics Studio (DS) program to simulate the transient stability behavior of the power grid and produces the streaming output of the PMU data in standard format that would normally be measured. The same program can also accept control signals that affect the transient behavior. This work was conducted at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). A test power system of 42 buses was used. The communication network that overlays the power grid is simulated by using NS3. Different architectures of the communication networks for the 42 bus power system are tested. This work was conducted by Washington State University (WSU). New types of EMS applications can also be tested on this platform. A decentralized control of frequency is tested by dynamically changing the power agreement between agents after a disturbance. This work was conducted by the Georgia Institute of Technology (GT).This project shows that platforms such as this one can be built to co-simulate the behavior of the power grid, the communication network, and the applications. Although more elaborate simulation platforms will be needed to test production grade designs of controller hardware and software, the models and algorithms are all shown to be feasible.

PSERC Webinar on April 19, 2016

We present a new robust optimization model for transmission planning. This model considersthe addition of new renewable generation and the retirement of existing generation capacity as sources ofuncertainty, anticipates for each transmission plan the worst scenario that would result in the highestinvestment and operational cost, and identifies the most robust transmission plan with the least costly worstcase scenario. We demonstrate this approach with a case study on the WECC 240-bus test system. Using anefficient algorithm that we invented, we were able to consider an astronomical number (10^49) of scenarios,representing different possible combinations of what/when/where/how much new generators could emergeand existing ones could retire, and identify the optimal solution among three trillion possible transmissionexpansion plans. Results will be illustrated with novel quantification and visualization techniques.

PSERC Webinar on May 3, 2016

The Power Systems Engineering Research Center (PSERC), an NSF Industry/UniversityCooperative Research Center, and the National Science Foundation Directorate for Computer andInformation Science and Engineering invited leaders from the utility industry, vendors, government, and theacademic community to participate in a PSERC/NSF Executive Forum and Workshop on Physical and CyberInfrastructure to Support the Future Grid. The major goal was to assess emerging research issues and paveresearch directions for resolving them in the next 10 years. As a result, a report that communicates viewsexpressed by around 100 leaders from industry, government and academia as well as a selected group ofemerging research faculty talents from universities was created. This webinar summarizes findings containedin the final report.

PSERC Webinar on September 13, 2016.

We present the results of a study conducted by WSU, Cornell and ISO-NE aimed at understanding the practical challenges associated with using cloud computing infrastructures to monitor PMU devices in a deployment intended to be similar in scope and scale to the Northeastern regional power pool. The study was built on a cloud data sharing and computation platform originally created in the GridCloud project sponsored by the U.S. Dept. of Energy ARPA-E GENI program.