A virtual environment for interactive visualization of power system economic and security information

Simulation and analysis of power systems often involves modeling extremely complex systems. This is particularly true when the model involves not just the electrical power system, but also other networks layered on top of the power system, such as the accompanying financial transactions. Such layered networks can often involve interactions that are not at all obvious. Interactive visualization can be a very effective means for determining otherwise hidden relationships between various elements in the network. This paper describes a 3D virtual environment developed to allow users to interactively visualize such information and relationships. The paper describes the architecture used to develop this environment, and then provides several examples of how the environment is used to provide an interactive visualization of power system economic and security information.