Cloud Computing for Power System Simulations at ISO New England—Experiences and Challenges

Power system simulations play a critical role in power grid planning studies. These studies become more computationally intensive as the result of the increasing level of system uncertainty and complexity. The deficiency associated with existing on-premise computing infrastructure in meeting these computational needs makes cloud computing an attractive alternative. A pilot project was initiated at ISO New England (ISO-NE) to explore the feasibility and implementation of cloud computing for power system simulations. In this paper, the concept of cloud computing, system architecture design, and cyber security scheme of the developed cloud-computing platform are discussed in details. The case study shows that adopting cloud computing can successfully meet various computing needs in power system planning studies in a cost-effective way without compromising cyber security and data privacy that are equally important to such organizations as ISO-NE.