PNNL

Abstract

Past power grid blackout events revealed the adequacy of grid operations in responding to adverse situations partially due to low computational efficiency in grid operation functions. High performance computing (HPC) provides a promising solution to this problem. HPC applications in power grid computation also become necessary to take advantage of parallel computing platforms as the computer industry is undergoing a significant change from the traditional single-processor environment to an era for multi-processor computing platforms. HPC applications to power grid operations are multi-fold. HPC can improve today’s grid operation functions like state estimation and contingency analysis and reduce the solution time from minutes to seconds, comparable to SCADA measurement cycles. HPC also enables the integration of dynamic analysis into real-time grid operations. Dynamic state estimation, look-ahead dynamic simulation and real-time dynamic contingency analysis can be implemented and would be three key dynamic functions in future control centers. HPC applications call for better decision support tools, which also need HPC support to handle large volume of data and large number of cases. Given the complexity of the grid and the sheer number of possible configurations, HPC is considered to be an indispensible element in the next generation control centers.