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California has adopted aggressive energy policy goals to significantly reduce greenhouse gases, improve energy efficiencies and deploy increased penetrations of renewable energy generation. This substantial generation of electricity from renewable resources, some located remote from, and some located near, customers, must rely on adequate, economical and reliable electric transmission and distribution for delivering renewable electricity to consumers. Today's system will be challenged in performing its roles in meeting these goals, especially in the context of compounding a growing uncertainty created by facilitating power markets and new customer uses of electricity such as electronic appliances and electric vehicles. New transmission and distribution technologies offer the prospect of providing a substantial portion of the new or expanded capabilities that will be needed to supplement traditional grid solutions. Many of these new technologies are not yet mature enough for commercial application and require research and development, some of which has just been completed or is underway.

System Components that Improve Reliability, Performance, and Life

Researches the impacts of the dynamic performance of air-conditioning equipment, adjustable speed drives, electronic equipment and other residential, commercial, industrial loads on voltage and dynamic stability performance of the western grid, and develop improved load modeling capability and associated performance tools and data. An extension of this project adds scoping studies of the impact of solar generation and possible solutions to mitigate the impact of residential air conditioners.

Develop test protocols to simulate appropriate earthquake conditions for transformer bushing assembly. Conduct laboratory testing for protocols, evaluate testing procedures, and develop recommendations for a rational qualification procedure to include in IEEE standards for manufacturer certification

Determine breaking strengths and failure modes of substation insulators subjected to seismic stress. Develop new qualification procedures for revisions to IEEE Standard 693. Rigid porcelain and composite post insulators will be tested and analyzed.

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.

The aging of installed underground distribution cables is a looming issue facing electric utilities in California and throughout the U.S. A variety of technologies and tests are currently available to evaluate underground cables, but there is often little correlation between the diagnostic results and the actual deterioration. This project will evaluate existing diagnostic approaches used to detect or predict incipient failure and determine whether new innovative technologies can be utilized to improve diagnostic accuracy while reducing the costs.

Identifies future research activities related to equipment and devices which could facilitate the integration of renewable energy resources, increase the efficiency or capacity of the transmission infrastructure, and/or reduce emission of greenhouse gases that are directly associated with the transmission infrastructure.

Technology to Enhance Transmission System Capacity

Evaluates the performance, cost effectiveness and reliability of each two different types of leading prototype fault current controllers and will consider the advantages of passive versus active devices. Phase II will field test a second-generation high-temperature superconducting fault current controller technology. The outcomes will provide guidance for future development of higher voltage fault current controllers.

Implemented monitoring technologies to produce real-time ratings (RTR) of transmission lines and evaluated the use of RTR to mitigate both the power transfer into a large multi-utility transmission area and the voltage constraints within a large area.

Application of Synchrophasor Measurements for Real Time Situational Awareness, Diagnostics and Control

Developed and conducted a demonstration of two real-time software tools to provide a grid operator a display of information and alarms from a network of phasor monitoring units and analysis of voltage security.Performed a scoping study that examined and prioritized options for data collection to improve the load and generator models used by CAISO and its control member utilities.

Developed new reliability real-time management tools and functional specifications for a commercial vendor to create production-quality versions of these tools for operations. Applications included the use of wide-area, real-time phasor measurements to display phase angle change and mode damping levels for low-frequency grid oscillations, and a voltage security analysis tool.

Conducted a “business case” study for development and deployment of transmission phasor-measurement-based technology applications to develop a wider awareness and understanding by grid system operators, utility executives, regulators and policy makers of the public interest and business benefits of expanded research, development, field testing and deployment of the promising phasor measurement-based technology applications.

Integrated phasor measurement data, along with the conventional power system measurements, into a utility Energy Management System to evaluate the improvement in the quality of power system state estimates.

Develop and apply advanced signal processing algorithms on phasor measurement unit (PMU) data for oscillation detection and analysis. It will include testing and validation procedures based on simulation data and field measurement data. A real-time prototype tool is to be developed for monitoring and analyzing power grid oscillations.

Develop real-time oscillation modal analysis application of phasor measurements based on Modal Analysis for Grid Operation procedure. Enhance modal control of the Western Interconnection by operator controllable variables. Demonstrate a MANGO application for the Western Interconnection. Implement MANGO for use in California ISO and utilities' control rooms.

Operator Tools for Congestion Management and Control of Grid Operations

Developed a “Forward-looking State Estimator”, which with the capability to look ahead for the next 24 hours, predict whether the system will be encounter critical operating constraints, and enable the California ISO to simulate various import scenarios to best mitigate a predicted potential problem.

Validate existing WECC wind turbine models and develop methods to use these individual models to develop an aggregated model of an entire wind farm increasing the reliable operation of the California electric delivery system.

Develop principles, algorithms, market integration rules, functional design and technical specifications for a wide-area storage and intermittent energy exchange management systems. This is to mitigate intermittent loading and fast ramps from increasing renewable generation. Evaluate large energy storage (sodium sulfur battery) options for the California IO ancillary service market.

Develop specifications, algorithms, computer codes, and graphical interfaces for two grid operator online analysis and visualization tools to monitor wind generation power ramping requirements. Predict unexpected transmission system impacts of intermittent generation on congested paths, voltage levels, and reactive power margins. Provide decision support for operator problem mitigation.

Identifies future research activities related to transmission operations which could facilitate the integration of renewable energy resources, increase the efficiency or capacity of transmission operations, and/or reduce emission of greenhouse gases that are directly associated with the transmission operations.

Intelligent Grid Protection System

Assessed the need for, and value and nature of, public interest research in intelligent system protection technologies for inclusion in the EGR portfolio.

Develop and evaluate 3 protection system enhancement tools using wide area measurements to minimize the inappropriate triggering of protection systems: use of “voting” to supervise backup relays, alarming when system impedance levels encroach upon trip characteristics of protective systems, and adapting out-of-step generator protection based on real time system conditions.

Previous research has indicated that the use of wide area synchrophasor measurements can be of significant value in reducing the likelihood of false trips by protection systems and reducing the likelihood of protection systems contributing to a cascading blackout. This project will co-fund a DOE-sponsored demonstration of synchrophasor based protection systems and a protection information tool for visualization of results, to be performed by PG&E and SCE under actual electric system conditions.

Propose schemes for overall automatic supervision of back up relays to minimize false triggering associated with cascading blackouts. Develop algorithms that detect early power loss and corrective action. Investigate the use of wide area phasor measurements to adjust relay settings in real time. Develop a method to damp low frequency grid oscillations when few details are known by characterizing the system with phasor measurements and stabilizers as control mechanisms.

System Planning for Investment Decisions

Documented the scope and magnitude of the congestion problems facing the State of California and reported on the challenges in forecasting, with the goal of providing an essential building block for developing a congestion planning methodology in future research.

Documented case histories for addressing the cost allocation problem and developed new methods and approaches that will advance the planning tools for making these investment decisions and providing better information for stakeholder involvement in decisions, including sharing in the cost of transmission projects.

Developed and applied a mathematical approach using probabilities to more accurately describe load and generation time dependence and forecasting uncertainties to be used to predict congestion in California.

This research produced a technology development roadmap for achieving an electric transmission infrastructure functionally capable of integrating the renewable generation capacity required to meet the RPS goals of California.

Phase I will develop, and test in a small-scale network model, the science and conceptual framework and advanced mathematical techniques needed for the complexity of multiple component and system failures in a transmission system, e.g., the “N-20”N equivalent analysis. Results might include identification of critical corridors, event frequency and probability, and superior operational response strategies. Phase II will apply Phase I methodologies to realistic network models to test their practicality

Identifies future research activities related to transmission planning and environmental issues which could facilitate the integration of renewable energy resources through improved technologies or methodologies for the upgrading, siting, construction, and installation of transmission equipment, or to improve efficiency and reduce greenhouse gases.