Scalable monitoring and control of distributed generation using grid computing

In the UK and also worldwide it is certain that future transmission systems will operate with significantly larger proportions of large-scale distributed generation. Therefore, in order to operate and control future transmission systems securely and efficiently it will be necessary to monitor and control output levels and scheduling much more accurately when connecting such generation to a power system. Traditional operation and control methodologies that are currently employed at the transmission level are highly centralised and are therefore not necessarily best suited to support large-scale integration of distributed generation. This paper proposes the adoption of a relatively new technology 'grid computing' that can provide a scalable, cost-effective and universal solution to the problems associated with the control and monitoring of future transmission systems with large-scale distributed generation.