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TRANSMISSION OPERATIONS & PLANNING

Operations Planning

Addressing the dynamic challenges of managing risk before real-time operation and preparing for emergencies. 

Research and Development Challenges

To address the growing complexity and diversity of operational conditions in today’s power systems, operations planning research integrates advanced methodologies such as voltage control, grid-enhancing technologies (GETs), advanced line ratings, and outage screening and optimization into the operations planning environment. The objective is to more comprehensively assess risk while significantly reducing the engineering time required, thereby allowing staff to focus on analyzing results rather than preparing data. This is increasingly important as operational uncertainty rises due to the proliferation of renewable generation, a shifting generation mix, and more active distribution-level resources. By embedding automation into key grid analysis tasks—such as outage coordination studies and probabilistic risk assessments — this effort aims to improve both the identification and mitigation of operational challenges.

Traditional operational planning practices are becoming less effective and more labor-intensive in this evolving landscape. To maintain system reliability, this project leverages continuously improving decision support tools and real-time system monitoring capabilities. Incorporating voltage control strategies ensures more stable voltage profiles under variable conditions, while GETs and AAR/DLR methodologies enhance the utilization of existing transmission infrastructure. Together, these innovations enable planners to better anticipate and respond to emerging risks, optimize the deployment of reactive power resources, and support more dynamic and resilient grid operations.
 

The following benefits are sought:

  • Reductions in the engineering time needed to study individual planned outage request scenarios with high resolution of detail by more than 80%,
  • Earlier detection of outage conflicts and reliability issues thereby decreasing cancellation risks and increasing efficiency using outage windows and maintenance crews,
  • Improved assurance of the probability and impact associated with forced outages of grid assets, leading to reduced operating costs and reliability in variable periods
  • Enhanced ability to identify key operational scenarios and generate representative study cases for operational planning, outage coordination, and near real-time security analysis.
  • Practical technical information, guidance, methodologies, and tools to assist operational planners with voltage control and optimization strategies, use of reactive support technologies, and emerging voltage challees.
  • Strategies to plan for operation of power flow controllers and other GETS devices to maximize system benefits and avoid reliability issues.
  • Knowledge of the implications of widespread implementation of advanced line rating methodologies, such as ambient-adjusted ratings (AAR) and dynamic line ratings (DLR) in operations planning.

Related Projects

Probabilistic and Risk-based Methods in Operations

This is focused on identifying where significant uncertainty puts operations at risk and developing and test methodologies to manage that risk-based. It will continually build on a roadmap previously developed. The work includes detailing the required data and conditional information such as operational outage rates and how to apply them in the methodologies. Some methodologies and processes are and will be developed in separate projects but monitored and communicated through this project as well.

Optimal Outage Scheduling

This is focused on the need to improve the coordination of scheduled outages to minimize reliability issues and costly repositioning by implementing more proactive rather than reactive processes. It looks at optimization and AI methods to improve the scheduling of outages to be more optimal and improved coordination between asset owners and schedulers while performing efficient, automated studies. Current first come first serve methods will be compared to optimal methods in case studies and prototype software.

Case Selection and Building

This is focused on developing processes to identify scenarios that are feasible and pose the most risk to the system that need to be studied in operations planning – including outage scheduling. To study these scenarios efficiently, it also focuses on developing automated processes to build the cases to perform the studies and allows engineers to spend more time on studying results.

Operational Performance Analysis

Currently there is rarely a study of inadequacies in operational cases unless there is a postmortem on an event. This workstream focuses on developing metrics and systematic methods to evaluate performance of operational cases to predict and encompass the risk realized in real-time operations. Metrics for evaluation are being developed and how to calculate them and then use them to drive changes to improve the cases are explored.

Operations Models

This is focused on the operational needs to improve device models (e.g., load models) used in operations studies to improve accuracy. Current models used in operations environment are evaluated and potential improvements identified with new data and processes to implement them. Then case studies are performed to demonstrate improvements.

Related Deliverables

VVPM Reference Guide - 2024 Edition

3002029676

Compendium of state-of-the-art VVPM tools and practices used by transmission planning and operations staff for planning and operating the bulk power system.

Voltage Stability w/ integration of IBR

3002029677

Provide tools and guidelines for engineers to use voltage stability assessment methods, accurately capturing IBR effects.

Impact assessment of AAR and DLR

3002029679

Analyze the challenges and opportunities of advanced line rating technologies.

Reactive Power Compensation for Trans.

3002030849

Reference material to identify cost-effective reactive power compensation devices and to operate them in a more efficient manner.

VCA Studio V5.1

3002029671

A tool to perform various voltage and reactive power optimization functions in power systems operations and planning.

Methodologies for Optimal Outage Sched.

3002029703

Document methods for optimal outage scheduling to proactively provide desirable periods and reduce denied requests.

Evaluating Operational Load Forecasts: Performance During Extreme Events

3002029704

Benchmark the accuracy of operational forecasts during extreme weather events.

AOC v2.2

3002029701

A tool to automate outage studies, generate scenarios, execute studies and visualize outcomes.

Area Leads