Future Hour Study Using State Estimator Cases for Real-Time Operations

This paper identifies the approach and advantages of for using the node/breaker model for future hour studies for real-time operations. The necessary steps to create future hour base cases from a real-time State Estimator (SE) case are presented. Advantages of using SE cases for creating near term future hour cases for operation studies are discussed. How different applications such as Contingency Analysis, Path Operating Limit and Cascade Analysis operate is also discussed.Issues and gaps are presented when creating and analyzing operations studies for current hour, next hour and future hours. Idaho Power's experience of automating the future hour study is presented. The approach implemented produced fast, reliable and accurate models for future hour studies. The automation features and suggested improvements have been implemented, tested and in production since the new NERC TOP-002-4 Std., became enforceable in April 2017. This process has been implemented using a 10,000 bus, 100,000 node WECC system commonly referred to as the West Wide System Model.