Synopsis
The aim of this model will be to
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To provide representatives of government, industry, and consumers with objective, real time, assessments of the strengths and vulnerabilities of the deregulated national power grid through the utilization of physical-based modeling systems;
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To provide state-of-the-art, hands-on education and training in the use of physically-based modeling systems for officials from federal regulatory agencies, employees of the electric power industry, and students whose career goals include employment within the electric power industry; and
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To provide senior representatives of the nation’s national security interests, the power industry, and its affiliated associations with highly sophisticated, multi-scenario, real time analyses of the impact of large-scale events (e.g. loss of a large generator or high voltage transmission service) on the national power grid.
Simulation is an important tool for the power systems engineer working toward understanding the very complex nature of large interconnected power systems. In PowerGrid, parallel analog/digital signal processing techniques will be used to produce a model that will be a full simulator/emulator capable of continuous realtime operation. In order to achieve this racks containing the processors will be interconnected using high speed communication channels to allow for the simulation of large power systems with full processing times on the order of a few µseconds.
PowerGrid’s specialized architecture will allow the size of the power system model to be increased without increasing the simulation time. Real-time operation will be maintained due to the analog nature of the underlying model in addition to the periphery software algorithms developed especially for use on the model.
