Transmission, Reliability & Stability: Challenges & Solutions

The North American electric power grid faces challenges that include: increased power demand; higher penetration of uncontrolled generation (e.g., renewables); and increased difficulty of permitting new transmission infrastructure. The engineering impact of these challenges is the reduction in system reliability due to unstable system responses. The traditional solution to improve grid reliability is to build more transmission paths; but, with the challenge of permitting, very little infrastructure is being constructed. Two new technologies provide opportunities for improving system reliability without major new infrastructure: fast-reacting high-current converters; and, time-synchronized measurements. Dr. Trudnowski will discuss how these technologies can be used to improve grid reliability and provide examples from the western North American power grid

Electric Power Grid Reliability and Stability: Challenges and Solutions

Throughout the world, the reliability of a nation’s electric power grid is critical to societal health. Many compounding challenges are resulting in new struggles for maintaining the reliability of many grids, including those in the United States. These challenges, among others, include increased transmission loading coupled with higher renewable generation. In some cases, traditional engineering methods fail to address these new challenges. However, new fun69damental technologies provide power engineers with new cost-effective approaches. These technologies include GPS timing, high-bandwidth and high-speed communication, and high-current power electronics. This talk will describe, at a non-technical level, these challenges and potential solutions

Feasibility Assessment and Research Results Report

To investigate models, sensing systems and other means for detecting, in advance of failure, the degradation of the concentric neutral conductors of underground power distribution cables

Wide Area Monitoring and Situational Awareness

peer reviewedTe power grid operating conditions are continually challenging-every second, every minute, and every hour of the day. This is because changes in electricity demand dictate immediate, instantaneous changes in electricity production; consequently, voltages, currents, and power flows are dynamically changing, at all times, all across the vast electricity delivery network called the power grid.Grid conditions need to be monitored in a timely periodic manner in order to immediately detect any adverse conditions, as soon as they arise, so that corrective actions could be implemented to mitigate potentially harmful conditions that could lead to a widespread grid collapse. Since there is a tremendous volume of constantly changing conditions across the grid, the challenge is to shift through these data to identify conditions that are potential imminent problems that need operator attention. The challenge is to convert vast amounts of data into useful information