Power system simulation

A coordination study allows selection and setting of protective relays and fuses to rapidly clear a short-circuit fault while minimizing effects on the rest of the power system.

An optimal power-flow study establishes the best combination of generating plant output to meet a given load requirement, so as to minimize production cost while maintaining desired stability and reliability; such models may be updated in near-real-time to allow guidance to system operators on the lowest-cost way to achieve economic dispatch.

Due to the ability to determine losses and reactive-power allocation, load-flow calculation also supports the planning engineer in the investigation of the most economical operation mode of the network.

In engineering terms, a power system is deemed stable if the substation voltage levels and the rotational speeds of motors and generators return to their normal values in a quick and continuous manner.

[6] Another technique to model variability is the Monte Carlo method, in which different combinations of inputs and resulting outputs are considered based on the probability of their occurrence in the real world.

This method can be applied to simulations for system security and unit commitment risk, and it is increasingly being used to model probabilistic load flow with renewable and/or distributed generation.

The optimization problem will typically consider the long term investment cash flow and a simplified version of OPF / UC (Unit commitment), to make sure the power system operates in a secure and economic way.

This area can be categorized as: A well-defined power systems study requirement is critical to the success of any project as it will reduce the challenge of selecting the qualified service provider and the right analysis software.

The first software with a graphical user interface was built by the University of Manchester in 1974 and was called IPSA[10][11] - Interactive Power Systems Analysis (now owned by TNEI Services Ltd).

[12][13][14][15][16][17] The recently reformatted cinefilm 'A Blueprint for Power', shot in 1979 shows how this revolutionary software bridged the gap between user-friendly interfaces and the precision required for intricate network analyses.

[20][21][22][23][24] Portions of the model may also be used for the commitment and dispatch phase (updated on 5 minute intervals) in operation of wholesale electric markets for RTO and ISO regions.

Further, a GE software package called PSLF (Positive Sequence Load Flow), Siemens software packages called PSSE (Power System Simulation for Engineering) as well as PSS SINCAL (Siemens Network Calculator), and Electrical Transient Analyzer Program (ETAP) by Operation Technology Inc.[26] analyzes load flow on the power system for short-circuits and stability during preliminary planning studies by RTOs and ISOs.