Grant: Strategic Projects - Group

This strategic project application is to develop, evaluate, and apply an advanced online modeling tool for electric power grids, for improved monitoring and better operation of large power systems. The Canadian electric power system is a network of interconnected provincial and territorial subsystems that have been designed and adapted over time to meet local needs, operating somewhat independently. Such an energy infrastructure is a blend of existing and new technologies, and is constantly changing and expanding, because new systems are often added to cope with increasing demand in energy consumption. There are many challenges in maintaining and operating such power generation and transmission systems, the most prominent one being lack of an efficient and effective online technology to determine changing grid conditions and parameters in a timely fashion. This proposal outlines a new research area of developing online (real-time) modeling tools for electric power grids, based on synchronized phasor measurement units; the research topics include recursive algorithm development and validation for static and dynamic grid models, and application to real-time voltage stability analysis (power transfer margin estimation) of large power systems. Because power grids undergo constant changes in demand and supply, we think the proposed online modeling tool would be an enabling technology for many wide-area online (real-time) operations such as state estimation, active monitoring and protection, fault detection and isolation, and stability analysis. The tool to be developed would provide our industrial partner, and Canadian utility and electric power industries in general, a technological edge to remain globally competitive, and have a high potential for significant economic benefits in terms of improved quality and reliability, and reduced cost in electric power delivery.