PSERC Seminars


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Archived Audio-Slide Productions
of PSERC Tele-Seminars

The audio-slide productions of PSERC tele-seminars are publicly available. By clicking on a title below, a web-streaming version of the tele-seminars will begin. The audio-slide productions provide the audio and synchronized slides from the tele-seminar. You can also browse to the webcast site to view the archived tele-seminars. The slides alone are available on the PSERC website. The tele-seminars are categorized by the following topics:

Power Markets and Policy
Power Systems
Transmission and Distribution Technologies

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Power Markets and Policy Tele-Seminars

Impact of Increased DFIG Wind Penetration on Power Systems and Markets: Market Mechanisms (10-05, February 23, 2010)
Speaker: Uday Shanbhag, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Increased penetration of wind-based resources into the generation mix is expected to have a distinct impact on the functioning of power markets. As electricity markets gravitate towards a regime where renewables, such as wind power, are an integral part of a firm’s generation mix, multiple questions persist in terms of how market mechanisms should evolve to contend with the challenges arising from uncertainty and intermittency. In this research, we developed a flexible methodology for modeling strategic behavior in markets where firms may have wind-based generation. Importantly, we introduce a risk-based mechanism that charges firms when their bids have a large exposure to risk. Our research effort concentrated on the developing a modeling framework that can accommodate a host of complexities, ranging from capturing uncertainty and risk preferences in the setting of a two-settlement forward-spot market. This is the last of four DFIG tele-seminars.

Integrating Wind Power Efficiently into Electricity Markets Poses New Regulatory Challenges (10-01, January 19, 2010)
Speaker: Tim Mount, Cornell University
The inherent variability of generation from renewable sources, such as wind and solar power, may 1) increase the operating costs associated with additional ramping requirements, and 2) increase the amount of installed conventional generating capacity needed to maintain the operating reliability of a network. The additional system costs for both of these factors can be mitigated by providing additional services from, for example, controllable loads and storage capacity. This presentation uses a case study to demonstrate that these services are not adequately compensated by typical regulatory practices. As a result, current regulation will not provide the correct economic incentives to ensure that reliability standards are maintained on networks with high penetrations of generation from renewable sources. The proposed solution to this problem is to develop a hierarchical structure for operating and managing networks that will make it easier to control the increased uses of distributed energy resources that are likely to provide many of the new services needed to maintain system reliability in the future. This hierarchical structure will also make it more practical to set the correct economic incentives for providing these services efficiently.
This tele-seminar is based on on-going projects with PSERC and the Consortium for Electric Reliability Technology Solutions.

An Engineering and Economic Evaluation of the Impact of Cap-and-Trade for CO2 on Electric Power (09-15, December 1, 2009)
Speaker: William Schulze, Cornell University
Emerging environmental policies to reduce CO2 emissions will raise a number of challenges for the electric power industry as it continues to maintain a reasonably priced and reliable supply of electricity. For instance, the industry faces the likelihood of: (1) increased generation from numerous and diverse new energy sources that emit less CO2 (if any) than traditional alternatives, (2) ever more restrictive caps on CO2 emissions from all generation sources, (3) increased loads from plug-in hybrids and other forms of energy storage, and (4) wide-ranging demand response programs using smart grid technologies.
Besides policies for reducing CO2 emissions, there is the possibility of tighter standards on NOx and SO2 emissions to reduce ozone and fine particulates. Careful analysis of the implications of those environmental policies is warranted because of the effects they could have on retail prices, on the system-wide cost of operation, on reliability, and on emissions of all pollutants. Our study focused on a particular environmental policy: cap-and-trade as proposed for CO2 and is currently applied to NOx and SO2. We use an economic/engineering model of the power system in the northeastern United States as the conceptual framework for analyzing the impact of environmental regulation. In our study, we conducted simulations using a 2007 power system with network reduction to capture both power flows and voltage constraints, thereby enabling "stress testing" of the current power system.

Proactive Planning and Economic Assessment of Transmission Investments (PSERC Project M-14) (09-13, November 10, 2009)
Speaker: Shmuel Oren, University of California at Berkeley
(Project Tele-Seminar for PSERC Industry and University Members Only). This tele-seminar will describe some of the results of the completed PSERC project (M-14) entitled "Economic Impact Assessment of Transmission Enhancement Projects" performed by Shmuel Oren at UC Berkeley and George Gross at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Traditional methods of evaluating transmission expansions focus on system reliability needs and economic impact of the investments based on the current generation stock and firm generation expansion plans. However, in a market-based system such expansions may create winners and losers, and induce strategic responses in generation investment and energy market interactions that could negate the expected gains. Transmission planning and economic valuation of transmission investments by an ISO/RTO should be proactive and anticipate such strategic responses. In this talk we describe an economic assessment methodology based on equilibrium models characterizing the competitive interaction among generation firms whose decisions in generation capacity investments and production are affected by both the transmission investments and the congestion management protocols of the transmission system operator. Our analysis shows that both the magnitude of the benefits or welfare gains associated with transmission investments and the location of the best transmission expansions may change when the generation expansion response is taken into consideration. We illustrate our results using a 30-bus network example.

Aggregated Electricity Load Modeling & Control for Regulation and Load Following Ancillary Services (09-12, November 3, 2009)
Speaker: Duncan Callaway, University of California at Berkeley
This talk will present new methods to model and control the aggregated power demand from a population of thermostatically controlled loads. The control objective is to produce relatively short time scale responses (hourly to sub-hourly) for ancillary services such as load following and regulation. The control signal is applied by manipulation of temperature set points. The methods leverage the existence of system diversity and use physically-based load models to inform the development of a new theoretical model that accurately predicts - even when the system is not in equilibrium - changes in load resulting from changes in thermostat temperature set points. Insight into the transient dynamics that result from set point changes is developed by deriving a new exact solution to a well-known hybrid state aggregated load model. A straightforward minimum variance control law is developed and it is shown that the high frequency components of the output of a wind plant can be followed with very small changes in the nominal thermostat temperature set points.

Improving Economic Dispatch through Transmission Switching: New Opportunities for a Smart Grid (09-08, June 9, 2009)
Speaker: Shmuel Oren, University of California at Berkeley
Traditional security constrained economic dispatch of electricity resources treats the transmission network as a fixed static topology while optimizing deployment of generation assets. However, it is well known that the redundancy build into the grid in order to handles the multitude of contingencies over a long planning horizon can in the short run create congestion and necessitate costly out of merit dispatch. While it is quite common for operators to occasionally open lines that reach their thermal limit, such practices are employed on an ad hoc basis and are not driven by cost considerations. The objective of our work is to explore, from an economic perspective, the potential of treating the grid as a flexible topology that can be co-optimized along with generation dispatch, subject to reliability constraints, so as to minimize the cost of serving load. This talk will review recent work by the authors demonstrating that optimizing the network topology with generation unit commitment and dispatch can significantly improve the economic operations while maintaining the traditional "N-1 reliability" standard.

Effects of Ancillary Service Markets on Frequency and Voltage Control Performance of Deregulated Power Systems (09-06, April 21, 2009)
Speaker: Anjan Bose, Washington State University
Ancillary services are those necessary to sustain the basic operation of power systems provided by generators and transmission control equipment. The focus of the research at Washington State University was on balancing markets, which includes regulation and load following, and secondary voltage control markets. In the project, we studied the existing frequency and voltage control markets and the measure of control performance; identified the attributes that influences control performance of the system and possible improvements; and analyzed short and long term impacts of market structures on performance.

Contributions of Climate Science to the Electric Power Industry: Forecasting with Lead Times of Hours to Decades (09-04, March 3, 2009)
Speaker: Gene Takle, Iowa State University
Variability of weather and climate represents a significant source of risk to the electric power industry. Weather influences power trading, fuel acquisition, load forecasting, systems planning, hazard planning and a range of related tasks within the industry. Lead-times for weather and climate information range from minutes for rapidly changing hazard conditions and wind-power resources to decades for infrastructure planning. Demands on forecast accuracy are equally daunting. Current societal calls for changes in fuel sources will bring additional weather and climate related risks for the electric power industry, particularly for use of biofuels, wind, hydropower, and solar. This seminar will provide an overview of the state of the art in mesoscale weather forecasting and regional climate modeling with applications to the electric power industry, including current efforts to reduce limits to predictability. For short-term prediction, wind speed forecasting will be used as an example, and for the longer term, potential impacts of climate change will be discussed.

Tools for Assessment of Bidding into Electricity Auctions (09-03, February 17, 2009)
Speakers: Ross Baldick, University of Texas at Austin; and Steve Puller, Texas A&M University
This tele-seminar is based on PSERC Project M-15. In many restructured electricity markets, transactions occur through frequently-repeated uniform-price auctions. Such market mechanisms are justified, in part, by theoretical models that suggest these auctions facilitate efficient dispatch and send "correct" signals for future investment. However, empirical analyses of offers into electricity spot auctions have uncovered evidence that actual offers by some market players can deviate significantly from theoretical models of profit-maximizing offers. This leads to inefficiencies in both balancing and bilateral markets. This project developed a computational tool for analyzing offers into auctions. First, market monitors can employ it to assess the competitiveness and efficiency of offers by comparing the actual offer of a market participant to a hypothetical perfectly competitive offer and to an ex post profit maximizing offer. Second, the tool can assist market participants, especially the smaller ones, in the formulation of offers in the face of the strategic complexity facing them. The tool and associated graphical user interface allows the ex post profit maximizing offer for a firm to be constructed on the basis of information about the aggregate offers of other market participants, the firm's own cost function, and zonal transmission constraints.

Real Time Market Power Monitoring (08-16, December 9, 2008)
Speaker: Bernie Lesieutre, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Over the past few years we have developed and studied sensitivity-based methods to identify market participants with the ability to increase prices without changing dispatch (load pockets), and/or to simultaneously increase prices and revenues. Mathematically, the method involves calculating the sensitivity of an optimal power flow (OPF) to changes in offer price. In our prior work we applied this technique to a 30-bus test system with six suppliers with dispatch determined using a full nonlinear AC OPF. Market power potential determined using sensitivity calculations are consistent with market power observed in economic experiments. Recently we have focused on challenges to allow the application of our techniques to large-scale systems. In this presentation we present our theoretical analysis of the structure of sensitivity matrices and show illustrative results on the common 118 bus system. We then present results from applying our methods to a couple large-scale model, including snapshots from PJM data.

A SuperOPF Framework for Improved Allocation and Valuation of System Resources through Co-optimization (08-14; November 4, 2008)
Speaker: Ray Zimmerman, Cornell University
There are wide range of activities in the power systems area that depend critically on the availability of tools which enable decision-makers to properly allocate and value system resources, including shared public goods such as reliability. The SuperOPF provides a framework for proper allocation and valuation of resources through true co-optimization. Instead of solving a sequence of simpler and approximate sub-problems, the SuperOPF approach combines everything into a single mathematical programming framework, with a full AC network and simultaneous co-optimization across multiple scenarios. The SuperOPF research effort involves development of the problem formulations, implementation of research grade software codes, and testing of the methods and algorithms on a range of case studies to demonstrate their added value over currently available tools.

Evaluation of Alternative Market Structures and Compensation Schemes for Incenting Transmission Reliability and Adequacy Related Investments (PSERC Project M-11) (08-11; September 16, 2008)
Speaker: Shijie Deng, Professor, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Tech University
(Project Tele-Seminar for PSERC Industry and University Members Only). This tele-seminar presents results from PSERC project M-11, "Incenting Transmission Reliability and Adequacy Related Investments." Adequate transmission capacity enhances reliability, lowers energy cost as delivered, limits market power of market participants, and provides flexibility to protect against market uncertainties such as load fluctuation, fuel price volatility, and unexpected facility outages. Incentives for attracting investments in transmission assets are essential to the overall success of the restructuring of the electric power industry. We will present research outcomes related to the evaluation of market-based schemes for compensating transmission investments.

The Effects of Greenhouse Gas Limits on Electric Power System Dispatch and Operations (08-10; September 2, 2008)
Speaker: Miaolei Shao, Ph.D. Candidate, Wichita State University
This presentation first discusses several power system features that will impact CO2 emissions. Then the formulation of a CO2 emission-constrained AC optimal power flow (OPF) is presented. The effects of the proposed approach on power system dispatch and operations were investigated using the standard IEEE 24-bus reliability test system through several case studies. For each case study, a wide range of CO2 prices were modeled.

Demand Response via Real-Time Pricing to Increase Use of Operational Wind Energy Generators (08-07; May 6, 2008)
Speaker: Ramteen Sioshansi, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Title XIII of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2005 states that it is now U.S. policy to modernize the grid by creating a Smart Grid that, in part, will integrate distributed resources and incorporate demand response. Real-time pricing (RTP) is a means for demand response that could be enabled by a Smart Grid. This seminar is on a study of how RTP can make the use of wind energy more efficient in a power system.

Designing CO2 Trading Markets for the Power Sector: Does It Matter Who Gets the Allowances and Who Must Comply? (08-05; April 1, 2008)
Speaker: Benjamin Hobbs, John Hopkins University
Carbon allowance trading has been implemented in the European Union, and will start in several eastern states in June. Meanwhile, several western states and Canadian provinces are negotiating the formation of a trading region for the West, and it appears likely that a federal system will emerge in the next Congress, if not before. Because of the potentially large costs that would result, as well as the large economic rents, from implementation of these systems, there has been intense political discussion of who should be responsible for compliance and how allowances should be distributed. In this seminar, I will discuss whether the answers to these questions are important from the point of view of overall economic efficiency.

The Efficiency of Uniform-Price Electricity Auctions: Evidence from Bidding Behavior in ERCOT (08-03; March 4, 2008)
Speaker: Steve Puller, Texas A&M University
This tele-seminar will discuss evidence that bidders distort the efficient price signal. In many restructured wholesale electricity markets, transactions occur through frequently-repeated uniform-price auctions. For example, the ERCOT balancing market, and the day-ahead and real-time markets in the Northeast and Midwest U.S. use uniform-price auctions.

Agent-Based Test Beds for Power Industry Research, Teaching, and Training (08-01; February 5, 2008)
Speaker: Leigh Tesfatsion, Iowa State University
This talk will discuss the potential usefulness of agent-based test beds as research, teaching, and training tools for the exploratory study of wholesale power markets. An agent-based test bed is a computational rendering of a real-world process as a dynamic system of interacting agents.

The Electric Power Industry and Climate Change: Power Systems Research Possibilities (07-05; June 5, 2007)
Speakers: Judy Cardell, Smith College; and Tom Overbye, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
In response to increasing concerns over global climate change, this tele-seminar continues a PSERC discussion on possible research areas that PSERC can pursue related to interactions between the power industry and global climate change.

Models for Electric Transmission Property Rights (07-04; May 1, 2007)
Speaker: Ross Baldick, University of Texas at Austin
The presentation provided a description of a proposed model for electric transmission property rights based on "border flow rights" with associated financial rights called "contracts for differences of differences."

Markets for Reactive Power and Reliability (06-14; December 12, 2006)
Speaker: William Schulze, Cornell University
The FERC report on reactive power lays out issues and raises questions about market power. How markets should be organized, not only for reactive power but for real power and reliability, examine issues of market power through both simulation and experimental economics, including possible market designs drawn from the conceptual model, simulations, and experiments.

Carbon and Climate Issues for the Electric Power Sector (06-13; December 5, 2006)
Speaker: Jay Apt, Carnegie Mellon University
Increasing levels of greenhouse gases (GHG) - and the climate change they are causing - are real and they are a major problem. To stabilize concentrations, the world is going to have to reduce its emissions of CO2 and other GHGs by at least 90%. Public education about CCS and about alternative ways to reduce CO2 emissions needs to start now.

Trying to Maintain Generation Adequacy in "Deregulated" Markets (06-09; May 16, 2006)
Speaker: Tim Mount, Cornell University
The initial efforts to deregulate the electric utility industry in the USA occurred in states that had relatively high rates (the northeast and California). This seminar discussed how this predicament over generation adequacy in "deregulated" markets should be addressed.

Generation Adequacy via Call Options Obligations: Safe Passage to the Promised Land (06-02; February 7, 2006)
Speaker: Shmuel Oren, University of California at Berkeley
The call option approach relies on standard hedging instruments that a mature energy-only market can support without regulatory intervention. Energy call options provide intrinsic value to customers, since the generators who are paid for such options must pay back any windfall profits. This seminar will describe the rationale and mechanics of the proposed approach along with some variants and recent implementation experience.

Power Systems Tele-Seminars

Singular Values and Principal Component Analysis in PMU Data Interpretation (10-06, March 2, 2010)
Speaker: Chris DeMarco, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison
Applications requiring interpretation of very large data sets have long relied on a range of techniques generally titled "Principal Component Analysis" (PCA), and PCA's analytic underpinning, the Singular Value Decomposition (SVD). Problems as varied as gene sequencing, geological sensing for oil/gas exploration, and even NetFlix's film recommendation system make use of these standard analytic tools. However, despite the enormous volume of Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU) data being collected in North America and around the world, to date the power systems community appears to have overlooked these powerful methods as a means to process and interpret PMU data. In this seminar, we will argue that PMU data is particularly well suited to the application of SVD methods. A relatively low cost computation of largest singular value and vector, applied to a matrix of windowed PMU measurements, offers an effective view of system operating point sensitivity to changes in system inputs and network parameters, adaptively capturing system sensitivity to both power injection changes and network topology changes. Using simple power flow analysis, synthetically generated computational examples, and real-world PMU data, this work seeks to demonstrate that this SVD computation on a set of windowed PMU samples yields a measurement-based, "model free" indicator of proximity to system voltage stability limits and related operating problems.

Impact of Increased DFIG Wind Penetration on Power Systems and Markets: Voltage Response and Stability (10-04, February 16, 2010)
Speaker: Venkataramana Ajjarapu, Iowa State University
This tele-seminar gives the results from a PSERC projectthat examined the impact of increased penetration of doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) wind generation on power system dynamic performance and hence reliability. DFIG wind turbines use controls that effectively isolate the inertia from the grid. In addition, large wind farms are typically connected to the grid at lower voltage levels resulting in higher fault currents. As a result, the increase in penetration of wind generation may affect a power system's transient stability, overall frequency response, regulation, voltage response, fault ride-through capability, and load-following capability. The impact of increased wind penetration was analyzed under two scenarios: a) Increased wind penetration with concomitant displacement of aged conventional generation, and b) Increased wind penetration without any decrease in existing conventional generation. Analyses identified the conditions under which increased wind penetration could result in violation of reliability criteria. Other selected critical system impact issues were studied, such as on low-voltage ride through and dynamic reactive compensation as per the requirements of FERC standards, and on the effects of increased wind penetration on frequency stability. Solutions of identified problems were explored.
This is the third of four DFIG tele-seminars.

Impact of Increased DFIG Wind Penetration on Power Systems and Markets: Frequency Response and Stability (10-03, February 9, 2010)
Speaker: Jim McCalley, Iowa State University
Wind energy, being non-dispatchable, has different operational characteristics than conventional energy sources. Additionally high levels of wind penetration create issues of power system control and interconnection issues. In this work we focus on MW-frequency control issues, system attributes, the grid problems introduced due to those attributes, and possible solutions to address them. The ultimate objective is to provide an approach for identifying the right combination of solutions for a given power system with a given projection regarding wind penetration levels. To do so, we need to establish the performance impact of each solution on each problem and we need to estimate cost per unit for each solution. The overall problem is an optimization problem of a combinatorial nature. The challenge is to ensure, at a particular wind penetration level, minimum cost and, at the same time, maximum impact sets of solution. Although this is the ultimate goal of our work, the objective in this project was to understand the impact of high wind penetration on transient frequency dip and on regulation/reserve requirements. This is the second of four DFIG tele-seminars.

Impact of Increased DFIG Wind Penetration on Power Systems and Markets: Small Signal and Transient Stability (10-02, February 2, 2010)
Speaker: Vijay Vittal, Arizona State University
Among the several wind generation technologies, variable speed wind turbines utilizing doubly fed induction generators (DFIGs) are gaining prominence in the power industry. As the performance is largely determined by the converter and the associated controls, a DFIG is an asynchronous generator. Since DFIGs are asynchronous machines, they primarily have four mechanisms by which they can affect the damping of electromechanical modes (since they themselves do not participate in the modes): displacing synchronous machines thereby affecting the modes; impacting major path flows thereby affecting the synchronizing forces; displacing synchronous machines that have power system stabilizers; DFIG controls interacting with the damping torque on nearby large synchronous generators. Following a large disturbance, the restoring mechanisms that bring the affected generators back to synchronism are related to the interaction between the synchronizing forces and the inertia of the generators in the system. In the case of a DFIG, however, the inertia of the turbine is effectively decoupled from the system. The power electronic converter at the heart of the DFIG controls the performance and acts as an interface between the machine and the grid. With conventional control, rotor currents are always controlled to extract maximum energy from the wind. Hence, with the increased penetration of DFIG based wind farms, the effective inertia of the system will be reduced and system reliability following large disturbances could be significantly affected. This webinar gives results of analyses of these issues. This is the first of four DFIG tele-seminars.

Power System Level Impacts of Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles (09-16, December 18, 2009)
Speakers: Sakis Meliopoulos, Georgia Institute of Technology; and Tom Overbye, University of Illinois at Urbana
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) offer an attractive solution to a growing dependence on imported foreign oil, offering potential benefits along with critical issues for the electric power industry. The impact of PHEVs on the power grid was investigated in a PSERC project. The project's methodology was based on three procedures: (a) typical use of PHEVs incorporating human habits and terrain on which cars are driven for the purpose of evaluating the resulting electric and gas energy consumption; (b) simulation of the electric infrastructure (i.e., distribution systems) and the loading patterns that results from PHEV deployment, including the effects on the expected life of distribution transformers, (c) impact of PHEV deployment on energy resource use in the power grid, and (d) impact of PHEV deployment on power system operation and on the operational security of the power grid. Appropriate models were used to capture the interactions between PHEV's and the complexities of a power grid and distribution system. This presentation will overview the findings of this PSERC project.

Optimizing Methods for Distribution Restoration (PSERC Project S-30) (09-14, November 17, 2009)
Speaker: Kevin Tomsovic, University of Tennessee
(Project Tele-Seminar for PSERC Industry and University Members Only). This is the second of two tele-seminars on the recently completed PSERC project (S-30) entitled "Development and Evaluation of System Restoration Strategies from a Blackout." The first tele-seminar, "Optimizing Generation and Transmission System Restoration Strategies in Real Time," was given on Oct. 20. In this research, we used novel approaches to transmission and distribution system restoration to design modules that can be used in an on-line decision support tool. Using such a tool, once fully developed and tested, operators will be better able to adapt to changing system conditions that occur during an actual restoration. The research-grade modules include 1) Generation Capability Optimization Module; 2) Transmission Path Search Module; 3) Constraint Checking Module; and 4) Distribution System Restoration Module. With additional development work, these modules could be linked and coordinated by a Strategy Module. Testing demonstrated the viability of these modules in identifying restoration decisions that we believe will reduce restoration time while maintaining system integrity. Ultimately, this will lead to lower outage costs for blackout events. The four developed modules provide an automated and "best adaptive strategy" procedure for power system restoration. Future work will be needed for extensive testing, implementation planning, and actual implementation in a real-time operational environment. This presentation will focus on distribution system restoration methods where we sought to enhance the restoration of distribution systems primarily by means of optimization algorithms, in particular, the Lagrangian relaxation (LR) method and Binary Integer Programming (BIP). These approaches are developed and contrasted. The work demonstrates the applicability of analytical tools to the distribution system restoration problem. The algorithms' performance and total effect of this technique on the distribution system restoration process are evaluated on several scenarios using a 4-feeder test and a 100-feeder test system. Suggested directions for further development are discussed, including partial network restoration and reconfiguration.

Optimizing Generation and Transmission System Restoration Strategies in Real Time (PSERC Project S-30) (09-11, Oct. 20, 2009)
Speakers: Chen-Ching Liu, University of Dublin; and Vijay Vittal, Arizona State University.
(Project Tele-Seminar for PSERC Industry and University Members Only). This tele-seminar is based on PSERC Final Project Report S-30. This is the first of two tele-seminars on the recently completed PSERC project (S-30) entitled "Development and Evaluation of System Restoration Strategies from a Blackout." The second tele-seminar, "Optimization Methods for Distribution System Restoration," will be on Nov. 17. System restoration following a blackout is one of the most important tasks for power system operators. However, few on-line computer tools are available to help operators complete that task in real-time. Indeed, most power system operators rely on off-line restoration plans developed for selected scenarios of contingencies, equipment outages, and available resources. Since the details of an actual blackout are hard to predict in the planning stage, a restoration plan can only serve as a guide in an actual system restoration situation. In this research, we used novel approaches to transmission and distribution system restoration to design modules that can be used in an on-line decision support tool. Using such a tool, once fully developed and tested, operators will be better able to adapt to changing system conditions that occur during an actual restoration. The research-grade modules include:
Generation Capability Optimization Module; Transmission Path Search Module; Constraint Checking Module; Distribution System Restoration Module. With additional development work, these modules could be linked and coordinated by a Strategy Module. Testing demonstrated the viability of these modules in identifying restoration decisions that we believe will reduce restoration time while maintaining system integrity. Ultimately, this will lead to lower outage costs for blackout events. The four developed modules provide an automated and "best adaptive strategy" procedure for power system restoration. Future work will be needed for extensive testing, implementation planning, and actual implementation in a real-time operational environment.

Analyzing the System Costs of Wind Variability (09-10, Oct. 6, 2009)
Speaker: Judy Cardell, Smith College.
Wind power forecast uncertainty raises concerns of the impact of wind power on power system and electricity market operations. This research project uses an optimal power flow (OPF) model in a Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) framework to estimate the cost impacts from the uncertainty in wind farm output. Using various regional load levels and assumptions on the costs for providing balancing energy, the results from the OPF and MCS analysis show that wind power forecast uncertainty, combined with load forecast uncertainty, can increase production cost for the 39-bus test system up to 350 times, though for most cases the forecast uncertainty does not introduce any significant changes from the base cases. The real and reactive power losses are shown to be higher for scenarios with low wind-high load and high wind-low load as compared to the moderate wind-load cases. The results also show minimal voltage violations across the test system.

Recent Advances in Electric Energy Conversion and Storage (09-09, Sep. 8, 2009)
Speaker: Hamid Toliyat, Texas A&M Univ.
Power electronics is an innovative and expanding area in electrical engineering. Recent advances in high power devices permit the control and flow of electric energy efficiently. The digital nature of power switching devices makes the control of electric power switching circuits convenient with the use of digital signal processors. Power electronics has widespread applications in today’s industry such as in power supplies, variable speed drives, automotives, marine, etc. In this lecture, I will describe progress in design of various electric machines and power electronics converters for a variety of applications such as wind turbines, high speed flywheel energy storage systems, hybrid electric vehicles, ship propulsion, washing machines, etc.

Voltage Recovery and Optimal Allocation of VAR Support via Quadratic Power System Modeling and Simulation (09-07, May 5, 2009)
Speaker: Georgios Stefopoulos, Georgia Institute of Technology
A general framework for power-system analysis is presented the main characteristics of which are (a) utilization of full three-phase models, and (b) use of a "quadratized" mathematical formulation, which models the system under study as a set of mathematical equations of order no more than two. Accurate modeling and simulation of voltage-recovery phenomena allows the development of mitigation methodologies via the optimal allocation and operation of static and dynamic VAR resources over the planning horizon. This problem is solved with successive dynamic programming techniques with the following two innovations: (a) the states at each stage (candidate solutions) are obtained with static and dynamic (trajectory) sensitivity analysis and (b) each candidate solution is evaluated by considering the optimal operation of installed static and dynamic VAR sources utilizing concepts from the theory of applied optimal control and trajectory optimization. Example results will be provided.

Challenges in Integrating Renewable Sources into the Electric Power Grid: A Power Electronics Perspective (09-05, April 7, 2009)
Speaker: Bingsen Wang, Arizona State University
Renewable energy portfolio standards are requiring higher penetration of renewable energy sources in the years ahead. Such large-scale integration of renewable generation sources into the electric power grid is raising critical issues. Many issues are at the system level, such as how to address the variability in output from renewable generation sources. Other issues are at the layer of a generator’s interface to the grid where power electronics is commonly involved either due to the inherent necessity of or for the sake of improved controllability. The critical functionalities carried by power electronics include: 1) provide the necessary voltage and frequency compatibility between the renewable source output and the power grid; 2) optimally control renewable sources for maximized energy yield among other objectives; and 3) provide active and reactive power support to the power grid during normal operation or disturbance events. Coupled with the multi-functionalities are the requirements for a broad operating range, high reliability, and cost effectiveness, which collectively present significant challenges to the design and control of the power electronic interface. This presentation will give a closer look at some of the issues and solutions.

Advancement in Arc Flash Related Hazard Research and Safety by Design (09-02; February 3, 2009)
Speaker: P.K. Sen, Colorado School of Mines
Approximately five arc flash incidents still occur each day in the United States causing serious injury and/or fatality. Arcing faults can cause serious injuries or death through a number of energy transfer mechanisms such as heat, pressure, sound, shrapnel and electromagnetic radiation. Accurately estimating the available thermal energy is one of the most critical aspects of assessing the severity of the arc flash hazard. This presentation will address various aspects of thermal energy exposures, discussing in detail the three categories of incident energy calculations that have been developed: theory based models, statistically developed models, and semi-empirically derived models. This research will help advance the electrical safety culture from a number of perspectives and has been performed as an integral part of the IEEE/NFPA Arc Flash Phenomena Collaborative Research Project and will provide the direction for future arc testing and modeling.

Decision Tree Based Online Voltage Security Assessment Using PMU Measurements (09-01; January 27, 2009)
Speaker: Vijay Vittal, Arizona State University
This tele-seminar is based on PSERC Project S-27G. With increasing difficulty in approving and installing new transmission lines, modern power systems are operated closer to their limits due to the continuous increase in load demand and generation capacity for the past few decades. This research project presents and examines an online voltage security assessment scheme to evaluate postcontingency voltage security in real time by using synchronized phasor measurement units and periodically updated decision trees. The main objective was to develop a fast and accurate tool to predict whether certain severe contingencies will initiate voltage collapse at the current operating condition for the purpose of preventing voltage collapse in a modern power system. This project involved the participation of a PSERC member company - American Electric Power Corporation - that provided supplemental funding for the project and the associated data, and participated as an industry advisor to the project.

Oscillation Monitoring System: Wide-Area Measurement-Based Detection and Remedial Control Actions (08-13; October 28, 2008)
Speaker: Mani V. Venkatasubramanian, Washington State University
In the recently concluded PSERC research project, we designed, developed and implemented an Oscillation Monitoring System (OMS) that uses wide-area PMU measurements for automatically monitoring for poorly damped and/or negatively-damped oscillatory modes. OMS includes two complementary engines that provide real-time modal analysis: 1) an automatic Prony-type analysis of power system responses following routine events such as line tripping and generator outages; and 2) an engine for continuous estimation of poorly damped mode frequencies and their damping ratios from routine ambient noise PMU measurements. The seminar will provide an overview of the algorithms and the implementation features at TVA.

The Key Role of Network Systems Engineering in Meeting the Energy and Environment Dream (08-12; October 7, 2008)
Speaker: Marija Ilic, Carnegie Mellon University
Energy and the environment are once again on everyone's mind. The primary energy producers have entered a race for making the traditional energy resources cleaner and safer, as well as for developing scientific principles in support of entirely novel energy resources. At the same time, we do not have the infrastructure to transport the energy effectively. The infrastructure for converting our primary energy resources and delivering energy in the form required by the end users was designed with qualitatively different objectives from the functions of today; it is aging and far from what it should and could become. This talk concerns the basic challenge of transforming today's passive electric power grids into active enablers of efficient and reliable utilization of emerging unconventional energy resources.

PMU-Based Enabled Distributed State Estimation with the SuperCalibrator (08-09; June 17, 2008)
Speaker: Sakis Meliopoulos, Georgia Tech University
PSERC researchers at Georgia Tech have been searching for improved state estimation and power grid visibility approaches that use advanced data acquisition hardware. This research has led to the creation of the "SuperCalibrator," a new technology that enables distributed state estimation by using existing relay/PMU devices in substations. Recently, these researchers teamed up with Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC) through the U.S. Department of Energy's Center for Grid Modernization to accelerate development of fully distributed state estimator technologies and their use in modern energy management systems.

Effective Power System Control Center Visualization (Project S-25) (08-08; June 3, 2008)
Speaker: Tom Overbye, University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign
This tele-seminar presents results from PSERC project S-25, "Effective Power System Control Center Visualization. The key purpose of this project was to perform research aimed at increasing the effectiveness of power system visualizations, with a particular emphasis on those used in the control center environment. The specific research accomplishments from this project can be grouped into six areas.

Operational Defense of Power System Cascading Outages (Project S-26, Part 1) (08-06; April 15, 2008)
Speaker: James McCalley, Iowa State University
(Project Tele-Seminar for PSERC Industry and University Members Only). Cascading outages in power systems are costly events that power system operators and planners actively seek to avoid. Such events can quickly result in power outages for millions of customers. Although it is unreasonable to claim that blackouts can be completely prevented, we can nonetheless reduce the frequency and impact of such high consequence events. Power operators can take actions if they have the right information provided by tools for monitoring and managing the risk of cascading outages. Such tools are being developed in this research project by identifying contingencies that could initiate cascading outages and by determining operator actions to avoid the start of a cascade.

An Online Dynamic Security Assessment Scheme Using Phasor Measurements and Decision Trees (Project S-27) (08-02; February 19, 2008)
Speaker: Vijay Vittal, Arizona State University
This talk describes an online dynamic security assessment scheme for large-scale interconnected power systems using phasor measurements and decision trees which was developed as a part of the PSERC project S-27.

The Case for Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (07-10; December 4, 2007)
Speaker: Jerome Meisel, Georgia Institute of Technology
This seminar focused on the benefits of hybrid-electric powertrain technology to help achieve energy security.

Requirements and Mechanisms for Flexible and Robust Inter-Utility Data Sharing (07-09; November 6, 2007)
Speaker: Dave Bakken, Washington State University
With the increase in the monitoring of status data at very high rates in high voltage substations and the ability to time synchronize these data with GPS signals, there is a growing need for transmitting this data for monitoring, operation, protection and control needs.

Reliability Based Vegetation Management Through Intelligent System Monitoring (07-08; October 16, 2007)
Speakers: Dr. B. Don Russell, Carl L. Benner, Jeffrey Wischkaemper, Texas A&M University
Vegetation intrusion causes faults, momentary interruptions and sustained outages, and potential safety hazards to people and animals. Utilities spend significant resources managing vegetation. Most vegetation management programs for distribution systems are calendar-based. Because each feeder has a unique level of vegetation exposure and outage risk, uniform cycles cannot provide optimal reliability, especially for large systems with diverse geographies. Calendar-based cycles result in some feeders being trimmed more frequently than necessary without improving reliability, while other feeders are trimmed too infrequently and reliability suffers.

Integration of Renewable Resources (07-07; October 2, 2007)
Speaker: David Hawkins, California ISO
This seminar provided a brief overview of the CAISO work on Integration of Renewable Resources to meet California's 20 percent RPS target.

Nuclear Energy Renaissance in the U.S. (07-03; April 3, 2007)
Speaker: Jasmina Vujic, University of California at Berkeley
This presentation viewed the recent advances in nuclear energy technologies, reprocessing and spent fuel management, safety considerations and economics, and the new Global Nuclear Energy Partnership program envisioned by the Bush Administration. It addresses possibilities of new nuclear power plant construction in the U.S. by 2010.

The Reliability Assessment Project (07-02; March 6, 2007)
Speaker: George Gross, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
This seminar summarizes the key aspects of the recently completed Reliability Assessment Incorporating Operational Considerations and Economic Aspects for Large Interconnected Grids Project. This project was conceived as an undertaking to bridge the developments in PSERC's Markets and the Systems Research Stems. This project established a solid basis for linking economics, reliability and security.

Electric Power Industry in China (07-01; February 6, 2007)
Speaker: Hui Ren, University of Wisconsin at Madison, North China Electric Power University
China is experiencing a high rate of economic growth. That growth is accompanied by an increasing demand for energy that is resulting in considerable investment in new generation and electric delivery infrastructure. This presentation provides an overview of China's electric power sector and how China is approaching the challenges it faces.

Optimizing Power System Restoration Resources and Actions (06-12; November 7, 2006)
Speaker: Chen-Ching Liu, Iowa State University
Restoration of a large and interconnected grid from a complete shutdown is a highly complex operation involving many technical and non-technical constraints. This presentation will draw on research using information from a case study.

Toward Optimal Operations (06-11; October 3, 2006)
Speaker: Paul Hines, Carnegie Mellon University
By "Operations" we mean the decisions made in real-time by human operators and computer-based controllers. This presentation summarizes the work done by Paul Hines for his Ph.D. and for PSERC project S-26, "The Risk of Cascading Failures" and funded in part by ABB Corporate Research.

The Threat of Hacking with Megawatts (April 25, 2006)
Speaker: Chris DeMarco, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Power grid vulnerability in remote configuration of generator controllers: the threat of hacking with megawatts.

Security Enhancement through Direct Non-Disruptive Load Control (06-07; April 18, 2006)
Speakers: Ian Hiskens, University of Wisconsin at Madison; and Vijay Vittal, Arizona State University
Significant enhancements in communications, metering and computer technologies have meant that coordinated control of massive numbers of diverse loads is becoming feasible. Our research has focused on the viability of load control for alleviating voltage collapse, and hence, for mitigating the possibility of cascading system failures.

Nuclear Energy: 1996, 2006, 2016 (April 10, 2006)
Speaker: Per Peterson, University of California at Berkeley
Overview of current events for nuclear energy, liquid salts for high temperature nuclear heat transfer, and nuclear waste management and Yucca Mountain.

Wide-Area Small-Signal Stability Controller (06-06; April 4, 2006)
Speaker: Mani Venkatasubramanian, Washington State University
Recent blackout events (such as the 1996 Western U.S. events, the 2004 Northeastern disturbance, and the 2004 Italian blackout) have demonstrated the need for new automatic controllers that respond to unforeseen operating conditions to keep power system problems from cascading into large-scale blackouts. Simulations showed that the controller could have stabilized oscillations before they became critically large in the Western U.S. blackout on August 10, 1996.

Real-Time Monitoring of Cascading Events (06-05; March 28, 2006)
Speaker: Mladen Kezunovic, Texas A&M University
This tele-seminar presents research results on new technologies for monitoring and control at the system and local levels.

Adaptive Islanding to Prevent Cascading Failure Events (06-04; March 21, 2006)
Speaker: Vijay Vittal, Arizona State University
Power systems are under increasing stress as market policies introduce new economic objectives for operation. The research issue is how to take advantage of the information from the slow coherency generator grouping method to island the system in a controlled way by tripping an identified set of transmission lines.

Visualization of Power Systems and Components (Project S-18) (06-01; January 24, 2006)
Speaker: Tom Overbye, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The need for enhanced power system visualizations has been increasingly acute over the last decade as the size of power system models has grown. This project focused on the performance of formal human factor experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of power system visualizations.

Transmission and Distribution Technologies Seminars

Recent Advances in Electric Energy Conversion and Storage (09-08, Sep. 8, 2009)
Speaker: Hamid Toliyat, Texas A&M Univ.
Power electronics is an innovative and expanding area in electrical engineering. Recent advances in high power devices permit the control and flow of electric energy efficiently. The digital nature of power switching devices makes the control of electric power switching circuits convenient with the use of digital signal processors. Power electronics has widespread applications in today’s industry such as in power supplies, variable speed drives, automotives, marine, etc. In this lecture, I will describe progress in design of various electric machines and power electronics converters for a variety of applications such as wind turbines, high speed flywheel energy storage systems, hybrid electric vehicles, ship propulsion, washing machines, etc.

Massively Deployed Sensors (08-17; December 16, 2008)
Speaker: Jerry Heydt, Arizona State University
(Project Tele-Seminar for PSERC Industry and University Members Only. This tele-seminar summarizes results of PSERC Project T-31). This tele-seminar provides a summary of a PSERC project on a range of unconventional sensor applications in electric power engineering. Included are: 1) Integration of existing sensory information from sensors (e.g,. temperature and pressure, substation security perimeter status, substation battery voltage, neutral - ground voltage, liquid levels) into the EMS and alarm processing software tools. 2) Investigation of unconventional sensors and sensory information (e.g., satellite graphic information, mechanical position and inclinometer-type sensors, static wire impedance, conduit and cable trough conductivity). 3) Development of alarm processing techniques and algorithms that utilize a large number of sensory information sources including unconventional sensory information. The alarm processing techniques may use innovative mathematical techniques. 4) The use of a very large number of signals for enhanced power system operation and operational decision making in order to capture new information and to enhance the accuracy, quality, and redundancy of the collected information.

Integration of Operational and Non-Operational Data for Improved EMS Monitoring (08-15; November 18, 2008)
Speaker: Mladen Kezunovic, Texas A&M University
(Project Tele-Seminar for PSERC Industry and University Members Only). This tele-seminar is based on Part I of PSERC Project T-32 (forthcoming) as well as the findings reported in PSERC Report 08-07 titled "Optimized Fault Location" published in April 2008. This presentation's objective is to identify the potential benefits of integrating information obtained from the substation IED data, beyond what is obtained from RTU data, into the EMS. The presentation was focused on three major tasks: 1) Identification of properties of IED data to be used to supplement EMS functions; 2) Definition of EMS improvements regarding operators' use of new monitoring data; and 3) Outline of new design approaches for future EMS functions including fault location, topology processing, alarm processing, operator displays, etc.

The Utilization of Satellite Images to Identify Tree Endangering Transmission Lines (08-04; March 18, 2008)
Speaker: George Karady, Arizona State University
(Project Tele-Seminar for PSERC Industry and University Members Only). (Project T-37). In recent years, renewed emphasis has been placed on vegetation management of transmission right-of-way to avoid tree contacts that could put system reliability at risk. At the same time, new approaches to vegetation management have been sought to be able to achieve the needed tree clearances as cost-effectively as possible. One possible approach is to process satellite images to prioritize tree maintenance work. For this approach to work, new computational tools would be needed to convert satellite image data into useful information for vegetation management scheduling. This project's objective was to develop such computational tools for determining the location of trees interfering with overhead transmission lines. The input data were derived from satellite images, and the GPS coordinates and altitudes of transmission towers. The tools determine the location of healthy trees that are penetrating a danger zone or safety envelope (e.g., 20 ft radius) surrounding the conductors. In this project, two tools were implemented and tested: 1) a transmission line scanning computer program and 2) a tall tree identification program. This work is significant because it shows how satellite images that are already commercially available can be used for the large-scale assessment of vegetation encroachment on transmission lines.

Reliability Based Vegetation Management Through Intelligent System Monitoring (07-08; October 16, 2007)
Speakers: Dr. B. Don Russell, Carl L. Benner, Jeffrey Wischkaemper, Texas A&M University
You are invited to watch this Mediasite presentation: PSERC_10/16/2007.
Vegetation intrusion causes faults, momentary interruptions and sustained outages, and potential safety hazards to people and animals. Utilities spend significant resources managing vegetation. Most vegetation management programs for distribution systems are calendar-based. Because each feeder has a unique level of vegetation exposure and outage risk, uniform cycles cannot provide optimal reliability, especially for large systems with diverse geographies. Calendar-based cycles result in some feeders being trimmed more frequently than necessary without improving reliability, while other feeders are trimmed too infrequently and reliability suffers.

Use of Composite Materials for High Temperature, Low Sag Conductors (07-06; September 4, 2007)
Speaker: Ravi Gorur, Arizona State University
The electrical and mechanical properties of composite materials are largely controlled by formulation and processing details. There are no standards for the product and this technology is new. This seminar will highlight technical issues and work done under the PSERC project.

Risk-Based Resource Allocation for Distribution System Maintenance (06-10; September 5, 2006)
Speakers: James 'Jim' McCalley, Iowa State University; and Ward Jewell, Wichita State University
The existing state-of-the-art power system maintenance program offers three approaches for making decisions associated with identifying maintenance activities: condition-based maintenance (CBM); reliability-centered maintenance (RCM); and optimization techniques.

Detecting Circuit Breaker Status Errors in Substations (06-08; May 2, 2006)
Speaker: Ali Abur, Northeastern University
Detecting and identifying breaker status errors can be accomplished by a two stage procedure. Recently a new method, which can address this shortcoming, was proposed for topology error analysis.

Effects of Voltage Sags on Household Loads (06-03; February 21, 2006)
Speaker: George Karady, Arizona State University
Voltage sags pose a serious power quality issue for the electric power industry. Surveys were conducted to determine the type of equipment present in residential apartment complexes in Tempe, Arizona. The testing enabled assessment of the accuracy of standard "CBEMA" curves that allow prediction of the effect of voltage sags on equipment performance.

PSERC Contact Information:

Power Systems Engineering Research Center
Arizona State University
Box 878606
Tempe, AZ 85287-8606
Phone: 480-965-1643
Fax: 480-965-0745
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