Situational awareness in the power system control room of the future : a NEWEPS approach

Abstract

Future requirements and challenges related to grid operation cause structural and operational changes in the Nordic synchronous area. Control room personnel are increasingly dependent on mature monitoring, control, and protection technology. The Nordic Early Warning Early Prevention System (NEWEPS) project aims to develop techniques within these fields. This study is a part of Work Package 2 (WP2) within NEWEPS, which is about the visualisation of power system states.

This master's thesis explores future data needs and visualisation techniques to enhance real-time control room operation. State-of-the-art observability at Statnett is mapped through interviews. Key indicators of evolving events in the network are highlighted through literature scoping reviews. Synchrophasor data are shown to reflect the system state related to grid stress, dynamics, and proximity to instability. Furthermore, it eases the detection of oscillations, islanding, and instability. Associated data needs such as angular differences, damping, and voltage sensitivity are also surveyed and justified.

Findings from the literature scoping review suggest that the best visualisation of data is through dynamic graphs and maps. From the scoping review, the Real Time Dynamics Monitoring System (RTDMS) is highlighted as a visualisation tool currently under development. RTDMS enables wide-area monitoring of conditions such as islanding events, oscillations, voltage stability, and grid stress. Findings from the literature scoping review indicate a need for field asset monitoring within the control room. Implementation is found possible through augmented virtuality and digital twins.

Voltage sensitivity and reliability margins are highlighted as indicators of voltage stability in the reviews. Their applicability is evaluated through a case study. Load and transmission changes were simulated in "Sørnettet" in Power System Simulator for Engineering (PSSE). Associated PV curves were assessed for a given bus. Due to the outage of a transmission line, the reliability margin narrowed from the critical point at 320 MW to 250 MW. There was also an increase in sensitivity from -0.066 kV/MW to -0.49 kV/MW. These findings indicate that the proposed metrics are useful to assess the vulnerability of the system towards voltage instability.

Fremtidige krav og utfordringer knyttet til nettdrift fremmer strukturelle og operasjonelle endringer i det nordiske synkronområdet. Kontrollrompersonell er i økende grad avhengig av velutviklet overvåkings-, kontroll-, og beskyttelsesteknologi. Prosjektet Nordic Early Warning Early Prevention System (NEWEPS) har som mål å utvikle teknikker innen disse feltene. Denne masteroppgaven er en del av arbeidspakke 2 (WP2) i NEWEPS, som handler om visualisering av kraftsystemtilstander. Masteroppgaven utforsker fremtidige databehov og visualiseringsteknikker for å forbedre sanntidsdrift i kontrollrom. Det nåværende informasjonsbildet hos Statnett er kartlagt gjennom intervjuer. Fremtidige nøkkelindikatorer for hendelser i nettverket har blitt fremhevet gjennom en scoping review. Synkronfasedata vises å reflektere systemtilstanden relatert til nettstress, dynamikk og sårbarhet for ustabilitet. Videre tilrettelegger dataene for deteksjon av oscilleringer, øydrift og ustabilitet. Assosierte indikatorer som vinkelforskjeller, demping og spenningssensitivitet er også kartlagt og begrunnet.