Preventing Future Blackouts by Means of Enhanced Electric Power Systems Control: From Complexity to Order

This paper concerns the critical role enhanced control will play in the operating of future electric power systems reliably and efficiently. The nonstandard control problems are due to a large variety of controllers, presently acting in a multirate mode at various levels of the system. Today's monitoring and control logic is largely effective during normal conditions. This paper concerns its possible enhancements which might enable the system to operate reliably over broader ranges of loading and equipment status. In particular, it is suggested that major benefits could come from providing computer tools to assist human operators with their decision making when the system is under stress. A multilayered approach is introduced to support:1) on-line adjustment of available resources; 2) monitoring the interconnection based on qualitative indices (QIs) essential for deciding the severity of the operating mode; and 3) using the QIs to adjust structure of control as the system evolves from one mode to the next. An equivalenced model of the Northeast Power Coordinating Council (NPCC) interconnection is used to illustrate the potential of enhanced control in scenarios that resemble the blackout of August 2003. Also, the potential for efficient use of the resources during normal conditions is illustrated using this multilayered monitoring and control architecture.