PNNL

Abstract

Grid architecture (GA) is a concept that was developed to address the need for a comprehensive view of power grid challenges. GA can be viewed as a relatively consistent and fixed high-level approach; however, for any instantiation of grid structures, a combinatorial explosion results from each lower-layer expansion. This constitutes the main challenge with GA—it is a grid architect’s view of the system, which might not be very informative at the implementation level. Grid Architecture Mapping to Understand Transformation (GAMUT project) seeks to bridge that gap by integrating subject matter expertise across GA structures, providing users who lack expertise in GA approaches with valuable insights and informational materials. GAMUT seeks to answer feasibility questions for the approach. System-level expectations are that a GA baseline needs to be established in order for GA to be the common framework to which any lower layer approach is tied. This report explores a potential information ingestion and documentation framework to support GAMUT. The main concepts that enable the solution domain of GAMUT are discussed, and examples are provided. The solution domain leverages already-existing technology and concepts related to GA, knowledge management, and other relevant areas. To assess GAMUT building blocks and the overall approach, a feasibility assessment is proposed, rooted in systems engineering and GA architecture evaluation concepts.