US-20260128588-A1 - ELECTRICAL POWER SYSTEM EQUIPMENT CRITICALITY

US20260128588A1US 20260128588 A1US20260128588 A1US 20260128588A1US-20260128588-A1

Abstract

Contingency analysis is executed to simulate operation of an electrical power system under different contingencies that reflect an individual outage of different respective pieces of equipment in the system. For each of the different contingencies, it is quantified how impactful the individual outage of the respective piece of equipment would be to the system's performance. For example, this may be quantified across multiple dimensions of performance, by calculating dimension-specific scores for the respective dimensions and synthesizing the dimension-specific scores into a unified criticality score for a piece of equipment. Regardless, the criticality scores for the pieces of equipment may better inform control of the electrical power system.

Inventors

Srinivas VARADAN
Khoi Vu

Assignees

QUANTA TECHNOLOGY, LLC

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20241104

Claims (20)

1 . A method comprising: executing contingency analysis by simulating operation of an electrical power system under different contingencies that reflect an individual outage of different respective pieces of equipment in the electrical power system; for each of the different contingencies, quantifying how impactful the individual outage of the respective piece of equipment would be across multiple dimensions of the electrical power system's performance, by: for each of the multiple dimensions, calculating a dimension-specific score which characterizes performance of the electrical power system in that dimension according to the simulated operation of the electrical power system under the contingency, relative to performance of the electrical power system in the dimension according to baseline operation of the electrical power system without the contingency; and synthesizing the dimension-specific scores for the multiple dimensions into a unified criticality score for the piece of equipment; and based on the unified criticality scores for the pieces of equipment, controlling, or assisting with controlling, operation of the electrical power system.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the multiple dimensions of the electrical power system's performance include two or more of: an operational standards dimension reflecting an extent to which the electrical power system complies with or violates defined operational standards; a service dimension reflecting an extent to which the electrical power system is able or unable to provide electrical power service to customers; a price dimension reflecting market pricing of electrical power provided by the electrical power system; and/or a stability dimension reflecting an extent to which the electrical power system is stable or unstable.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the multiple dimensions of the electrical power system's performance include an operational standards dimension reflecting an extent to which the electrical power system complies with or violates defined operational standards, wherein the defined operational standards comprise standards defined for bus voltage limits, branch current limits, equipment power ratings, and/or stability margins, wherein, for each of the different contingencies, calculating the dimension-specific score for the operational standards dimension comprises calculating the dimension-specific score as a function of one or more of: a total number of violations of the defined operational standards resulting from the simulated operation of the electrical power system under the contingency; and/or a magnitude of each violation of the defined operational standards resulting from the simulated operation of the electrical power system under the contingency.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the multiple dimensions of the electrical power system's performance include a service dimension reflecting an extent to which the electrical power system is able or unable to provide electrical power service to customers, wherein, for each of the different contingencies, calculating the dimension-specific score for the service dimension comprises calculating the dimension-specific score as a function of one or more of: how much less electrical power the electrical power system is able to provide to customers according to simulated operation of the electrical power system under the contingency, relative to how much electrical power the electrical power system is able to provide to customers according to the baseline operation of the electrical power system without the contingency; and/or how many and/or which one or more types of customers are unable to be provided electrical power from the electrical power system according to simulated operation of the electrical power system under the contingency, relative to how many and/or which one or more types of customers are able to be provided electrical power from the electrical power system according to the baseline operation of the electrical power system without the contingency.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the multiple dimensions of the electrical power system's performance include a price dimension reflecting market pricing of electrical power provided by the electrical power system, wherein, for each of the different contingencies, calculating the dimension-specific score for the price dimension comprises calculating the dimension-specific score as a function of one or more of: for each of one or more locations served by the electrical power system, how much a locational marginal price of electrical power provided by the electrical power system increases for the location according to simulated operation of the electrical power system under the contingency, relative to the baseline operation of the electrical power system without the contingency; how many locations served by the electrical power system see at least a threshold increase in a locational marginal price of electrical power provided by the electrical power system according to simulated operation of the electrical power system under the contingency, relative to the baseline operation of the electrical power system without the contingency; an estimated cost that would be incurred by an operator of the electrical power system to implement control measures to mitigate, for one or more locations, an increase in a locational marginal price of electrical power provided by the electrical power system according to simulated operation of the electrical power system under the contingency, relative to the baseline operation of the electrical power system without the contingency; and/or an estimated loss of revenue suffered by an operator of the electrical power system attributable to occurrence of the contingency.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the multiple dimensions of the electrical power system's performance include a stability dimension reflecting an extent to which the electrical power system is stable or unstable, wherein, for each of the different contingencies, calculating the dimension-specific score for the stability dimension comprises calculating the dimension-specific score as a function of one or more of: how much more generating capacity the electrical power system must have in reserve to meet a stability target according to simulated operation of the electrical power system under the contingency, relative to how much generating capacity the electrical power system must have in reserve to meet the stability target according to the baseline operation of the electrical power system without the contingency; and/or an estimated cost that would be incurred by an operator of the electrical power system to implement control measures to mitigate an increase in generating capacity which the electrical power system must have in reserve to meet a stability target according to simulated operation of the electrical power system under the contingency, relative to the baseline operation of the electrical power system without the contingency.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein, for each of the multiple dimensions, calculating the dimension-specific score for the dimension comprises: calculating a raw score for the dimension to characterize performance of the electrical power system in that dimension during the simulated operation of the electrical power system under the contingency, relative to performance of the electrical power system in the dimension during baseline operation of the electrical power system without the contingency; and calculating the dimension-specific score for the dimension by normalizing the raw score for the dimension to fall within a dimension-agnostic range, wherein raw scores for different respective dimensions are normalized to fall within the same dimension-agnostic range.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein, for each of the different contingencies, synthesizing the dimension-specific scores for the multiple dimensions into a unified criticality score for the piece of equipment comprises, for each of the different contingencies, calculating the unified criticality score for the piece of equipment as a function of a weighted combination of the dimension-specific scores for the multiple dimensions.
9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein, for each of the different contingencies, synthesizing the dimension-specific scores for the multiple dimensions into a unified criticality score for the piece of equipment comprises, for each of the different contingencies, calculating the unified criticality score for the piece of equipment as a function of the dimension-specific scores for the multiple dimensions and also as a function of one or more of: a voltage class of the piece of equipment; or an electrical power rating of the piece of equipment.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein, for each of the different contingencies, synthesizing the dimension-specific scores for the multiple dimensions into a unified criticality score for the piece of equipment comprises, for each of the different contingencies, calculating the unified criticality score for the piece of equipment as a function of the dimension-specific scores for the multiple dimensions and also as a function of one or more of: an age of the piece of equipment; an estimated cost to repair the piece of equipment and/or to access the piece of equipment for repair; availability of parts for the piece of equipment in inventory; an estimated duration of time required to repair the piece of equipment and/or an estimated duration of time required to order and receive a replacement of the piece of equipment; an availability of a temporary replacement for the piece of equipment to maintain operations while waiting for a permanent replacement for the piece of equipment; a frequency of past failures and/or historical reliability data for the piece of equipment; an extent of redundancy within the electrical power system for the piece of equipment.
11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said controlling or assisting with controlling comprises making one or more decisions about how the electrical power system is to be controlled, or is recommended to be controlled, to account for the unified criticality scores for the pieces of equipment.
12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the one or more decisions comprises one or more decisions about whether and/or how to adjust one or more operational parameters of the electrical power system to account for the unified criticality scores for the pieces of equipment.
13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the one or more operational parameters of the electrical power system include one or more of: one or more parameters that govern load shedding by the electrical power system; one or more parameters that govern voltage and/or frequency regulation by the electrical power system; one or more parameters that govern energy storage by the electrical power system; one or more parameters that govern integration of renewable energy sources into the electrical power system; one or more parameters that govern participating by the electrical power system in a bulk energy market; one or more parameters that govern power flow control and network reconfiguration within the electrical power system; one or more parameters that govern the coordination between transmission and distribution systems within the electrical power system; and/or one of more parameters that govern congestion limits in line flows affecting market clearing prices.
14 . The method of claim 12 , wherein said controlling or assisting with controlling comprises transmitting, displaying, or otherwise indicating to an operator of the electrical power system planned or recommended adjustments to the one or more operational parameters to account for the unified criticality scores for the pieces of equipment.
15 . The method of claim 12 , wherein said controlling or assisting with controlling comprises implementing the one or more decisions by dynamically adjusting the one or more operational parameters.
16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said controlling or assisting with controlling comprises dynamically adjusting a graphical user interface of the operational control equipment of the electrical power system to account for the unified criticality scores for the pieces of equipment.
17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein said dynamically adjusting comprises one or more of: adjusting a visual representation of one or more of the pieces of equipment on the graphical user interface to reflect the one or more respective unified criticality scores for the one or more of the pieces of equipment; or triggering an alert notification on the graphical user interface, wherein the alert notification is a notification of an event triggered by one or more of the unified criticality scores.
18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said simulating comprises simulating operation of the electrical power system under the different contingencies according to one or more power system files that reflect: a topology of the electrical power system; a location of generation and loads with respect to the topology; and a location of the pieces of equipment with respect to the topology.
19 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium on which is stored instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of computing equipment, cause the computing equipment to: execute contingency analysis by simulating operation of an electrical power system under different contingencies that reflect an individual outage of different respective pieces of equipment in the electrical power system; for each of the different contingencies, quantify how impactful the individual outage of the respective piece of equipment would be across multiple dimensions of the electrical power system's performance, by: for each of the multiple dimensions, calculating a dimension-specific score which characterizes performance of the electrical power system in that dimension according to the simulated operation of the electrical power system under the contingency, relative to performance of the electrical power system in the dimension according to baseline operation of the electrical power system without the contingency; and synthesizing the dimension-specific scores for the multiple dimensions into a unified criticality score for the piece of equipment; and based on the unified criticality scores for the pieces of equipment, control, or assist with controlling, operation of the electrical power system.
20 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19 , wherein the stored instructions, when executed by one or more processors of computing equipment, cause the computing equipment to: make one or more decisions about how the electrical power system is to be controlled, or is recommended to be controlled, to account for the unified criticality scores for the pieces of equipment, wherein the one or more decisions comprises one or more decisions about whether and/or how to adjust one or more operational parameters of the electrical power system to account for the unified criticality scores for the pieces of equipment; and transmit, display, or otherwise indicate to an operator of the electrical power system planned or recommended adjustments to the one or more operational parameters to account for the unified criticality scores for the pieces of equipment, and/or implement the one or more decisions by dynamically adjusting the one or more operational parameters.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present application relates generally to an electrical power system, and relates more particularly to managing pieces of equipment in such a system based on equipment criticality. BACKGROUND Electrical power companies face challenges in managing system infrastructure to ensure reliable and efficient power generation, transmission, and/or distribution. Assets of system infrastructure include many pieces of equipment, though, each with varying degrees of importance and potential for failure. Effective equipment management within resource constraints is paramount, requiring power companies to decide (i) which pieces of equipment to maintain, repair, replace, upgrade, or otherwise give attention to and (ii) when to do so. If a piece of equipment is not given this sort of attention before its failure, grid reliability and availability can be compromised. On the other hand, if a piece of equipment is given attention needlessly and/or prematurely, there may not be enough budget or other resources remaining to give attention to other pieces of equipment. Known approaches to address these challenges rank pieces of equipment in the power system according to prioritization criteria, and then use that ranking to drive equipment management and investment actions. Equipment prioritization in some approaches is performed as a function of equipment voltage class and equipment power rating, with equipment having a higher voltage class and a higher power rating being prioritized over equipment with a lower voltage class and a lower power rating. Equipment prioritization in other approaches is performed based on an estimate of each piece of equipment's so-called “risk of failure”, calculated as the product of the equipment's probability of failure and the equipment's consequence of failure. The risk of failure in this case is estimated based on various factors such as the condition of the equipment, the age of the equipment, the operational stresses endured by the equipment, and the characteristic life of the equipment's asset class. These known approaches thereby rely on equipment-specific information that proves relevant irrespective of the operating environment in which a piece of equipment is deployed and/or long-term statistics observed for different types of equipment. Known approaches nonetheless still prove susceptible to inaccuracies, especially as system operating conditions change and/or at a fleet level. A need therefore remains for prioritizing pieces of equipment in a power system in a way that more accurately reflects equipment criticality relevant to equipment management and investment decisions, even as system operating conditions vary. SUMMARY Embodiments herein exploit contingency analysis to quantify how critical respective pieces of equipment are to an electrical power system. Contingency analysis in this regard involves simulating operation of the electrical power system under different contingencies that reflect an individual outage of different respective pieces of equipment in the electrical power system. Contingency analysis thereby advantageously captures the operating environment in which each piece of equipment is deployed, so that the piece of equipment's criticality accounts for that operating environment. Even as system operating conditions change over time, then, pieces of equipment may be prioritized in a way that more accurately reflects equipment criticality relevant for driving equipment management and investment action. Quantifying equipment criticality in some embodiments may for example involve, for each of the contingencies simulated, quantifying how impactful the individual outage of each respective piece of equipment would be across multiple dimensions of the electrical power system's performance. This may be quantified for instance by synthesizing dimension-specific scores for the multiple dimensions into a unified criticality score for each piece of equipment. These unified criticality scores may then drive control and/or management of the electrical power system. Some embodiments accordingly better promote system resilience and reliability, safeguarding against disruptions and ensuring stable electrical power delivery to consumers. Alternatively or additionally, some embodiments assist electrical power system operators in prioritizing equipment for maintenance and/or replacement, allowing for more informed and strategic planning, to enhance overall system performance and sustainability. Such may prove particularly advantageous in the face of limited annual budgets, where proper prioritization of equipment investment optimizes resource allocation and ensures long-term system health and efficiency. More particularly, embodiments herein include a method. The method comprises executing contingency analysis by simulating operation of an electrical power system under different contingencies that reflect an individual outage of different respective pieces of equipment