"Partial panel" operator training: advanced simulator training to enhance situational awareness in off-normal situations

On August 14, 2003, the largest blackout in the history of the North American electricity grid occurred. The four root causes identified by the blackout investigation team were inadequate system understanding, inadequate situational awareness, inadequate tree trimming, and inadequate reliability coordinator diagnostic support. Three of these four root causes can be attributed to deficiencies in training, communication, and the tools used by the control room operators. Using the issues revealed in the August 14, 2003 blackout, and addressing concerns associated with the security of control systems, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) developed a hands-on training curriculum that utilizes a dispatcher training simulator to evoke loss of situational awareness by the dispatcher. PNNL performed novel changes to the dispatcher training software in order to accomplish this training. This presentation describes a vision for a future training environment that will incorporate hands-on training with a dispatcher training simulator in a realistic environment to train operators to recognize and respond to cyber security issues associated with their control systems