Equipment naming convention methodology for node/breaker model

Utilities use the bus/branch model for planning and operations studies. In the bus/branch model, bus numbers are used as unique identifiers. However, bus numbers can change due to addition of equipment, specific substation configurations (splitting buses) or due to equipment outages. This often creates problems because many auxiliary files used in power system studies need to be modified. If the node/breaker model exported from State Estimator is used for system studies, the bus numbers are generated by programs and they can change from run to run. This can create a major problem for many auxiliary files used in power system studies or to match dynamic file with powerflow. This paper presents a naming convention methodology used to create unique labels for the equipment. The labels are used instead of bus numbers allowing more efficiency in performing operation studies. The labeling technique presented is already applied and tested using Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and Peak Reliability (Peak) model and supported by multiple vendors of commercial power system study software.