engleski

Experiences from Intelligent Alarm Processing and Decision Support Tools in Smart Grid Transmission Control Centers

New technologies have a major impact on the improvement of transmission grids, and this impact will be even greater in the near future. The introduction of intelligence in the network, by wide application of information and communication technology, has led to the so-called “smart” grid. Power systems have indeed always been smart, (especially at the transmission level), but a massive penetration of smaller units, and an increased inflow of signals, measurements, and alarms in control centers, increase the need for control and coordination. A smart grid needs a smart control room. In order for the operators in a control room to manage the grid and handle problems quickly and correctly, they need to understand the behavior and fault state of the grid, that is, they need to maintain situational awareness. One of the operator support systems is the alarm system, which displays fault indications in lists and graphical displays, often accompanied with warning sounds. In order to help the operators maintain situational awareness, the alarm system needs to display all important faults promptly, but it is equally important that it does not overload the operators with information. Ideally, they want to see the real faults only. The Croatian Transmission System Operator (HOPS) has installed a new system for intelligent alarm processing (IAP) using real-time root cause analysis, a lightning detection system and a smart visualization system. The IAP system has been evaluated on-line during real operation. We present the results from one month of normal operation, and from four selected incidents during 2015. The system for intelligent alarm processing with on-line root cause analysis displays less than 1 % of the number of alarms displayed in the SCADA system. All selected outages are correctly analyzed, and the algorithm displays the minimal set of root alarms, that is, “the real faults.” In this way, it is possible to reach the Engineering Equipment and Materials User Association’s (EEMUA) alarm rate criteria at all times, both during normal operation, and during incidents. KEYWORDS

Alarm management – Control rooms – Human-machine interface – Intelligent alarm processing – Lightning detection – SCADA systems – Situational awareness – Smart grid – Visualization

Referat broj D2-112