Final implementation of SEACON: new scope and new open system platform

SEACON is a hybrid (heuristic and algorithmic) expert system for contingency analysis and preventive or corrective control of power transmission networks, that has been recently redesigned to implement new end user requirements and to increase its performance. This paper describes the main results and the operational experience from the development and implementation of a new system based on the initial idea. Software reuse strategies became capital in this project. The new design includes advanced functionalities demanded by the practical use of the former system. Because of the high performance of the new system (up to fifteen times faster than the original) and its friendly user interface, SEACON has become a very valuable tool among dispatchers. SEACON is in operation in the Red Electrica's National Control Centre and in Iberdrola's Central and Regional Control Centres (Spain), dealing with transmission and subtransmission networks (ranging between 400 kV and 66 kV), attached to the online state estimators and screening over 2000 possible contingencies. Results are presented using natural language, and a client-server scheme provided for corporate access.