1. ISO New England System R&D Needs
Eugene Litvinov, Senior Director, Business Architecture & Technology
PSERC 2008 Summer Planning Workshop
South Lake Tahoe, August 2008

2. Day Ahead and Real Time Markets
Accurate automated calculation of thermal interface limits subject to N-1 and N-2 contingency protection in real time
The task is to adopt an automated off-line process for on-line studies. Accurate calculation of transfer limits for on-line requires AC model of the system instead of currently used DC model. Replace commonly used for planning the system loading approach with pre-defined Source and Sink by more appropriate for Real Time operation loading based on economic dispatch.
Improve quality of power flow model for Day-Ahead and Real-Time via introduction of dynamically updated load tree
The objective is to minimize load model error on zonal and bus levels for Day-Ahead studies and modeling of non-metered load for State Estimator. This development is particularly important for on-line voltage stability calculation based on the EMS model where an accurate estimation of reactive power of load significantly impacts results
Business Architecture and Technology © 2008 ISO New England Inc.

3. Operations
Increase efficiency of the power system transfer capabilities utilization via introduction of Adaptive Transient Rates (ATR) of equipment
Novel ATR concept allows to increase operational limits without degradation of system reliability by accounting for actually available in Real Time dispatchable resources to be used for relieving post-contingency thermal overloading. ATR will allow to increase operational transfer limits up to 3-5% for overhead lines and up to 10% for underground cables. ATR concept is different from commonly known temperature sensitive “dynamic” line ratings and could be applied complementary to “dynamic” line rates.
Research on feasibility of implementing cascading preventive actions in power system operation
Evaluation of methods and tools for on-line identification of possible cascading events, and optimization of corresponding preventive actions based on economic dispatch. Develop a metrics for a decision implementing preventive actions based on the cost of these actions and probability of cascading.
Business Architecture and Technology © 2008 ISO New England Inc.

4. Operations Increase the reliability of control center operation
Establish backup tools providing security constrained dispatch in case of failure of the regular SCED. A Backup tool to provide secure dispatch solution for credible contingencies in case of Market software failure.
Visualization
Investigate and implement advanced visualization technology to help operators make real-time decisions (contingency visualization, 3D, Google Earth, etc). Standardization of visualization solutions and architecture. Visualization components exchange.
Voltage control area and voltage profile optimization
Robust OPF program to optimize system voltage profile
On-line voltage stability calculation
Upgrade EMS model to make it usable for voltage stability studies. Adjust and implement software tools for consistent on-line calculation of thermal and voltage stability limits.
Business Architecture and Technology © 2008 ISO New England Inc.

5. Operations and Planning
Load ranking and modeling
Load ranking for voltage stability analysis based on sensitivity of load margin with respect to the bus load; detailed load modeling developed for high-ranked loads while using simple P-Q loads for low-ranked loads so as to minimize the efforts of developing accurate load models for voltage stability analysis.
System Restoration
Current status is off-line restoration planning; real system condition might be different than off-line planned; Need on-line tools and decision support system to optimize restoration; Need tools to help operators visualizing system restoration
Power system dynamic reduction
Dynamic simulation is on a 50,000 buses eastern interconnection system. Investigate tools of dynamic reduction to improve efficiency. For on-line dynamic stability assessment, need dynamic reduction to represent external areas.
Business Architecture and Technology © 2008 ISO New England Inc.

6. Capacity Market Security Evaluation
ISO needs to perform reliability assessment during qualification process (QP) and at each round of the dynamic range of the forward capacity auction. The number of studies in QP is very large and requires the time window is comparatively short. The time constraint during the auction are even much tighter. This creates the need for a very fast security evaluation process. It is not very clear what the criteria should be used in the planning stage vs. operation.
ISO is required to perform security assessment for monthly capacity reconfiguration auction. Due to variation in load level, transmission and generation maintenance, the most severe condition may not occur at the extreme peak or light load condition. ISO therefore needs to perform detail security analysis of all 744 hours within a month to determine whether the capacity obligation change is allowed. The time window is very short as well.
Business Architecture and Technology © 2008 ISO New England Inc.

7. FTR Risk Management
FTR collateral is based on historical returns. However past returns do not guarantee future performance due to planned/unplanned transmission outages , generation additions/outages/retirements. This creates high risk of FTR/CRR holder defaults. The need for new approaches of estimating and monitoring risk exposure of FTR portfolios using probabilistic assessment of future congestion patterns. Possibly daily monitoring to detect situations that could “flip” the portfolios.
Business Architecture and Technology © 2008 ISO New England Inc.