The book, which is the first one in this discipline, is intended for practicing engineers in

utilities, consultants or manufacturers who want to update their knowledge in the

technology of power system control. It serves also as a supplementary textbook for
graduate or final year undergraduate courses specializing in power systems or system
monitoring and control.
J would like to acknowledge my gratitude to several people and institutions. First and
foremost I would like to thank three of my research-workers, namely Drs. Mats Faxér, Ulf
Sandberg and Johan Schubert for their valuable assistance in the preparation of this pook.
Bo Hagengren, one of my PhD candidates, has prepared the Index and the Abbreviations. |
I am also very grateful to my friends in the Swedish industry who have been helpful with
valuable contributions and suggestions. I would like especially to mention Folke Dahlfors.
2% 1
The colored illustrations, referred to as plates, have been provided by Asea AK. They
illustrate in a general manner different control rooms, control room equipment and
possibilities for presenting valuable information. They will appear all together in chapter 7.
During this work, I have appreciated good cooperation with the Swedish Commission for
Technical Cooperation, which has partly supported the work, the Swedish State Power
Board, our main utility, and Asea AB, a leading supplier of advanced and complete ccntrol
systems. A special thanks go to SwedPower, international consultants, for valuable
economical support.
Mrs Tuula Lamminsalo is greatly acknowledged for the expertly drawn figures.
Finally, I have appreciated the cooperation with Prentice Hall International, particularly Mr
Glen Murray.
Torsten Cegrell Professor
1 INTRODUCTION
We have always been faced with the need to monitor and control processes both large and
small. In the most simple case this means ane process is equipped with some kind of
measuring device for monitoring and some kind of actuating (executing) device for control.
Using these tools the operators can control the process they are responsible for
and keep it running.
Figure 1.1 Traditional control room with mimic board.
nn
2
yhen 3 process has several measuring instruments and actuators, it is natural to group
these together on a control panel or mimic board. In bhis Way the operator can obtain an
image of the status of the process from one or a few locations. When large processes are
involved, it is iaportant to be able to get a good overview of the process from a central
position. This is the reason why separate control rooms or gontrol centers are built, from
where the entire or the important arts of {the process can be monitored and controlled. For
geographic ily widespread processes these control centers are located in puilding3
separate from the process plant.
qraditional control rooms, as illustrated in Figure 1.1, consist of a mimic board which is a
schematic model of the process and of several control desks. The size of the mimic board is
directly proportional to the size and complexity of the monitored process. The mimic board
has a number of measuring instruments on it, displaying the state of the process, €-&+
voltages, power flows and breaker status. Mimic boards jike these were originally made
with great workmanship and care. Marble boards and shining brass instruments were the
rule rather than
the exception.
——
ee noe je
——
Figure 1.2 The mimic board is constantly being rebuilt to match the real process.
Every time the process was rebuilt it was, however, necessary to rebuild the mimic board,
see Figure 1.2. For constantly changing processes this became a very costly procedure,
although the building methods became greatly simplified, leading up to the mosaic boards
of today. The electrical power process is subject to continual change. New lines, stations
etc. are constantly added. Consequently the mimic board becomes more complex, jumbled
and hard to overview and this has a negative impact on efficient monitoring and control.
Sometimes it has been so bad, that a new control room has had to be built, due to
lack of space in the old one!
expensive and inflexible technology it was quite technology became the focus of attention
at an early stage. When real-time computers became competitive price-wise in the. late
1960s, they were immediately integrated into a new control center concept. In this concept
the computer performs all signal processing, and the visual display unit (vVDU) more or
less replaces
the mimic board; see Figure 1.3.
To get away from this natural that computer
ag
Figure 1.3 Computers and VDUs mean more flexible systems.
|
it is from this base that the highly flexible control center systems of today evolved. Many
modern control rooms that rely on VDU display technique still have a mimic board, but one
with a more stylized and high-level process model. This kind of mimic board offers a way to
get quick overview of the process and is perhaps also a decoration in the control room.
The electrical power process is geographically widely distributed. It is spread, but still
interconnected, over entire nations or even continents. This caused the power companies
to use supervisory control right from the early days of electrification to be able to monitor
and control distant process sections.

Tne design of supervisory control systems is regarding complexity correlated to the

complexity of the controlled/monitored process. Surely, the electrical power process is the
most advanced industrial process in a modern society. It represents production,
transmission, distribution and consumption of electrical energy. Because of this, it was and
still is a challenge to apply modern computerized control systems to the power process,
particularly in view of the geographical
distribution. Therefore it is not surprising that the control systems.“
used in the electrical power industry are technically ahead of those of other process
industries.
Control systems of today consist of real-time computers of different complexity. They often
work in hierarchical structures to meet different functional requirements in the best way.
Demands on advanced computer communications result from the geographical spread of
the process. The operator monitors and controls the process using the man-machine
system which consists of color VDUs and keyboards. The vDUs display what is happening in
the process, the network or power station, in a quick, accurate and comprehensible way.
1.1 Technology of today.
Faced by an increasingly complicated existence, power utilities need efficient tools and aids
to ensure that electrical energy of the desired quality and availability can be supplied at the
lowest cost. Centralized supervision gives a total overview of the momentary status in the
power process. Computers supervise the current operation and give alarms to the
operators when deviations from the normal state
occur, e.g. unexpected circuit breaker operations or line flows exceeding operational limits.
In addition to this, the alarms are grouped for selective presentation to further help the
operator quickly trace the primary cause of error. The larger control centers use advanced
network supervision and
simulation tools to aid the operator in preventing disturbances. Production control
programs that economically optimize the operation of the power system are usually
included too.
Centralized cnntrol of the power system means all control actions can be taken in one
place. Thus the operator can operate circuit breakers, switch in and out substation bays
and control production units.
The role of the operator has undergone a major change as a result of the introduction of
computerized control systems. While his duties earlier were mainly of a recording nature,
they have now become more analytical. The computer system carries out the recording and
presents processed results. The operator then makes judgements and decisions and
executes them with the aid of the computer system. The new role of the operator.imposes
great demands on the man-machine interface, i.e. the way information is displayed and
how dialog routines are designed.
The functional requirements of the control systems put forward by the power utilities are
extensive, but differ as to complexity depending on the application area. The basic
requirements always include the so- called SCADA functions (SCADA = Supervisory Control
And Data Acquisition); see Figure 1.4. By adding the EMS functions (EMS = Energy
Management System), application oriented calculation tools are given to the operator to aid
him further.
CONTROL CCrennsion)
Figure 1.4 Functions of supervisory control systems in operator process interaction.
___ Introduction
meet the functional requirements, three key-words are important: archical, distributed and
reliable. The hierarchical requirement ysis decentralized functions is a natural
consequence of ‘the operational organization of power utilities. The control system must be
adapted to this requirement; see Figure 1.5. A distributed system concept {gs motivated by
the fact that the power process in itself is gistributed: i.e. geographically widespread. The
consequential costs of yncorrect or missing operator actions in a power system are so high
that very severe demands must be made on the security of operation.
pier
Main control center
Main computer Operator's console
43 wy LL a HT] }
Substation Power station
Figure 1.5 The control system must be adapted to the geographical spread of the power
process.
Based on this overall system philosophy, there exists today a set of computer-based units
and modules that give efficient system solutions for various applications, both large and
small.
A list of modern supervisery control systems could be very long. Only one example will be
mentioned here - the national monitoring and control system for Iraq’s power generation
and transmission network (400 kV, 132 kV), which became operational early in 1982. This
is a
Outline of tne DOOK 7 —-
very good example of a hierarchical control center system; see Figure 1.6.
Figure 1.6 A principal scheme of the control and monitoring system for Iraq’s power
generation and high-voltage network.
Iraq is divided into three operational regions: the Northern, Central and Southern. regions.
Each region has a control center. These regional control centers are fully responsible for
the power system operation in their own area. The regional control centers then form a
hierarchy together with tne National Control Center, which is responsible for the
coordination and planning of operation, e.€- load forecasting, for the entire country. Every
region has its own control system with associated remote terminal units. The control
system of the Central region is temporarily undertaking the functions of the National
Control Center, and is communicating with the other systems.
1.2 Outline of the book
After this brief introduction, an outline of the book is given to help the reader to become
more familiar with the material. In chapter

Intioduction
motives from the utility’s point of view are discussed. This that operational aspects in a
wide sense must be understood as g the different investment factors that affect the
introduction
1a : wet oder energy control systems. The following three chapters provide
autonomous and easily understandable description and discussion of he technological
basic elements in this field. In chapter 3, the rvisory and control functions are defined. The
operator and the an-machine communication part of such systems are treated in chapter ll,
followed by general configuration aspects for the whole system.
supe
The second half of the book is deeper and more detailed. Chapter 6 prings UP system
performance and reliability considerations which are yery important in control systems
controlling a complex and dynamic process: The chapter deals with real-time aspects,
concerning both hardware and software engineering, which are important under different
circumstances such as disturbances in the power system itself. With this aS a background,
chapter 7 describes in a detailed way the state-of-the-art of the technology today. This
means that various realizations are outlined. Chapter 8, is devoted to the power system
oriented application functions, which establish the go~called energy management systems.
‘The difficulty in going from ordinary SCADA functions up to EMS functions in a real-time
environment is discussed in detail and followed by a review of the whole application
function area. Chapters 6 to 8 form the main body of this book.
In chapter 9 a number of control systems in operation are described, mainly to illustrate
what has been said earlier. The book is terminated by chapter 10, which tries to look into
the future and find factors that will influence the control system design and technology of
tomorrow.
Z. POWER SYSTEM CONTROL: WHY?
ae
Faced by an increasingly complicated existence, the power utilities need efficient tools and
aids to ensure that electrical energy of the desired quality can be provided at the lowest
cost. The overall objective, both for short-term and long-term operations, is then to find the
best compromise between the requirements of security and economy. This means that the
operation may be characterized by three independent objectives: quality, security and
economy.
Quality is normally described by means of an accepted voltage profile (level and amount of
flicker) and frequency (setpoint with a narrow band and a threshold for the time delay) of
the delivered electric power.
Security is much more difficult to describe in quantitative terms. There are normally
certain rules in utilities and powerpools concerning power system balance, network
operation etc. in order to successfully take care of some predefined disturbances.
Economy consists of two parts: the investment part of apparatus, control systems and so
on, and the running cost for the whole power system.
No ideal combination of the three above-mentioned objectives exists. The optimal
combination is unique for every utility. The objectives of security and economy are even
contradictory because of obvious reasons. To keep the objectives on reasonable levels it is
a must today to take advanced control systems into service.
This book is not intended to be a textbook on the operation of power systems. However, to
understand fully the developing control center technology there is a need for a brief outline
of the task facing the utility and its dispatchers. Therefore, this chapter will first describe
the objectives and functions carried through in short term operation planning and daily
operation.
The organizational needs and the activities in a control center are also discussed to some
extent. Some aspects on the investment in computer-based control systems are elucidated
and the benefits gained are examined. Finally, some general remarks on the experience of
control centers are given.
4 9 ration of power systems 2.1 Ope
e is no one way of determining the operation of a power system, Te each power system has
its own characteristics in terms of myctiONs transmission, distribution and consumption.
‘The ryyiiarities of the equipment as well as physical and legally imposed Peastraints also
vary to'a great extent. Nevertheless, the activities
in a control center follow strict rules developed by each utility.
the system operation aspects directly influencing the control center can be split into three
groups, reflecting the time horizon:
Operations planning in the short term, from a few hours up to a
° few months. The operations planning then involves both planning of production
resources utilization and load forecasting as well as keeping the personnel aware of
possible contingencies in the system, i.e. training.
o Instantaneous operation. This involves monitoring of power
generation, loads and voltages as well as checking/reacting to transgressions of thresholds,
protection system action and equipment failures. Rearranging of production utilization and
transmission system is done by proper control actions.
o Operations reporting and direct follow-up of disturbances. The reporting is done to
create of statistical data used as input for planning as well as for accounting purposes.
Disturbance recording gives the basis for the primary fault location and for fast restoration.
Furthermore, the actual operation of a power system can exist in one of four operating
modes or states. These are shown in Figure 2.1, and are the normat state, the alert state, in
which some disturbance has occurred, thetemergency state and the restorative state. The
overall goal for the’ operation is to keep the normal state as long as possible. This is
achieved by detecting a movement against the alert state as soon as possible so that the
power system can quickly be brought back to the normal state again. If the power system
collapses the restoration must be smooth and fast.
Let us now discuss in some more detail the functions of planning, operation and reporting
of the power system and then consider the four modes of operation and their influence on
the control center. The
‘operations planning in the control center is done primarily on a
short-term basis. The intention is to minimize the system production cost by scheduling the
generation, taking into account forecasted system loads, bus ioads and the ;desired
commitment of production units. The expected power exchange with other producers of
electric energy is then also considered.
Restorative
Figure 2.1 The four modes of operation.
The load forecasting is normally done first on a yearly basis and is then broken down into
smaller time segments, e.g. month, week and finally an hourly forecast. The complete
forecast then involves many input sources, e.g. knowledge about economical and
industrial/private trends in the society, contacts with local distributors and big consumers,
weather forecasts ete. The breakdown into smaller time segments is often caused by the
statistical behaviour of the weather.
The minimizing of system production cost is highly dependent on the available energy
resources and the mix of plants in the system, e.g. hydro and/or thermal, coal-fired and/or
nuclear ete. In a purely thermal power system the production cost is mainly a function of
plant efficiency and fuel cost, as long as fuel is available. If the operation is accomplished
with minimum cost at each moment the optimal result is automatically achieved. However,
in a mixed system with a majority part of hydro generation, the minimizing is more
complicated. Basically, the "fuel" cost of hydro power is zero. The problem is that the
supply is limited and uncertain in volume and. distribution in time, due to precipitation
conditions. Once an inflow volume has reached a reservoir it must be decided at what time
it shall be used for electric energy production. The minimized cost for a mixed system is
obviously achieved by using water resources to the full extent when available and keeping
thermal resources to a minimum.
In addition to this basic cost minimization a variety of constraints are involved, e.g.:
o toad distribution and network limitations o -Maintenance schedules
o Power capacity restrictions
"9

Power exchange plans availability of plants and units

fuel price variation and fuel availability
0
o Water inflow forecast
9 Legal and environmental restrictions
0 Regulating capacity needed, fast and slow
cooperation between utilities in an interconnected system is becoming more and more
common. A joint operation in such a system gives immense economical advantages by
equalizing load variations, increasing the availability of plant types, keeping the regulating
capacity to a desired level etc. Such a joint operation develops functions and routines for
evaluating the power interchange. This requires the involvement of the dispatcher in the
control center.
When discussing the instantaneous operation we will subdivide the monitoring and control
into two parts.
0 freiactiayeaus power balance and frequency control ' vd
o Transmission system capacity and voltage control
The electric power demanded by the consumers (the loads) must be produced at the very
moment it is used. A change in the load situation must therefore immediately be followed
by a change in generation, or an imbalance will exist in the system. If a load increase occurs
and no control action is taken to increase production, the power deficit will be taken from
the rotating machines in the system and the frequency will go down. An increase of
production is thus required to sustain an acceptable frequency. Load-generation equality is
therefore a necessary physical condition for a stable operation, and the system frequency is
a measure of the imbalance. An interconnected power system can of course accommodate
the random load variations from the different utility subsystems in a better way since most
of the variations will cancel each other out. But there will always be, to a greater or lesser
extent, a residual imbalance between planned and actual total system load-generation.
Therefore, the control center is highly involved in the task of keeping the power balance
and frequency to the desired quality level, together with local regulators in the plants, e.g.
turbine governors.
The layout of a high-voltage power network allows the transmission of power from the
generating plants to the users/consumers. It also allows extensive power exchange and
therefore makes the overall production optimization possible. Generally, the total
transmission
{
capacity of a network is determined by stability characteristics of the system. In addition,
physical limitations on transmission line capacity exist. The functions of a control center
thereby consist of monitoring the actual active power load situation and preparing the
system to withstand possible contingencies. For this, each utility normally establishes its
own design criteria and operational standards. For example the system shall withstand:
o Sudden generator outage
o ‘Tripping of a transmission line bus-bar or transformer ¢
o Transient faults
In contingency situations the control center dispatcher must therefore be prepared to take
appropriate actions for manually altering the production and/or rearranging the
transmission system upon activation of the protection system.
One basic condition for the transmission capacity is that the system ean sustain the desired
voltage level during various operating conditions. The basis for the voltage stability is the
exeitation of the spinning synchronous machines. The operational concern is therefore to
ensure that there is sufficient excitation margin in both directions. Excitation margins are
expressed in terms of reactive power reserve. In the case of a network disturbance the
reactive power support must be available in the same area of the system as the fault. The
same applies to variations in the consumption of reactive power depending on load
variations from various customers. Therefore various equipment such as SVS (Static Var
Systems) exists in strategic positions in the network. The control center is highly involved
in maintaining the voltage level and its profile throughout the network by monitoring it
and switching reactive compensating equipment in and out.
Now let us look into the computerized control center and how it involves the above-
mentioned tasks in its design.
The functions of a computerized control center must often serve both the demand of
security and economy, at least in the normal state. In the alert state, the goal is to prevent a
network separation, i.e. the security side is stressed. In the restorative state the goal is to
bring the power system back into the normal state as fast as possible, taking into
consideration both the security and economy aspects.
If there is any centralized control at all in the emergency state the only concern is of course
security. ' Basically, centralized supervision gives a complete overview of the current status
of the power system, making it possible to keep the | |
42
r system in the normal state of operation. Deviations from the owe ed normal operation are
then automatically detected and reported pete operators. They may then act so that a
cascading disturbance . be avoided or to change an uneconomic state of operation. The
prvieW! also makes it possible to minimize the consequences of a ortial interruption by
operating the network or production resources rode to their limits.
ne_larger control centers include advanced security oriented tools for network supervision
and simulation to help the operators still further in preventing disturbances. These centers
usually also take advantage of joptimization schemes for production control and planning
where economijc aspects, such as production costs and losses, are also
considered. +
centralized control makes it possible to make interventions in the power system from a
single place with a complete overview available. safe and fast operation can therefore be
implemented both in a normal state and also in a restorative mode, giving shorter down-
time. control in this context means the operation of circuit-breakers, switching in and out
of substation bays, as well as the setting of unit production.
Disturbances are reported to the operators for following-up purposes in terms of
chronologically sorted events grouped into categories and priorities. These are presented
selectively, thus enabling the operator to rapidly locate the primary fault and hence the
reason for the disturbance. In addition, disturbance data collection schemes for power
flows and voltages are often included to further assist the operator in restoring the system
to normal operation after a disturbance.
Today, the computerized control center most often contains functions for statistical data
collection and operations reporting (accounting). These data and reports are then printed
directly or transferred to other computer systems of the utility, either by means of a
magnetic tape or a direct computer~computer link. The advantages of this integration are
that more and reliable statistical information can be established and the operators are
relieved from routine work.
Organization and operator activities
The responsibility for the operation of the power system and for maintaining the security
of personnel working with the system is normally assigned to a central location, the control
center. With interconnected systems and closer cooperation between utilities this
responsibility will to some extent be split between different control
centers. The same split applies to the control center itself since more functions are included
in the control center computers and consequently more people take advantage of these
functions in their daily work. This situation requires quite clear responsibility and activity
schemes to be developed and implemented. In this way hierachical control centers and
different operator workframes are established.
The main activities of a control center are as the earlier description: .
o Production control
o Transmission system dispatching
o Maintenance administration
o Training for and simulating of contingencies
o Supervision of the control system itself
The first three are traditionally and logically of highest priority. The two activities
following are introduced by the computer itself but are nevertheless crucial.
Furthermore, the operator activities can be organized into three groups, each time-
dependent: pre-dispatch, dispatch and post-dispatch.
Pre-dispatch sotavitel ea develop and maintain the short-term plan for energy and power
supply for the hour following the present one and for subsequent periods. The activities
then include, e.g.:
o Short-term load forecasting
o Generation scheduling 6
o Interchange planning
o Reactive power requirements planning
o Maintenance activities and outage planning
o Development of planned switching actions
o Elaboration of plans for post-disturbance restoration
Dispatch activities will implement the plans developed during the
pre-dispatch period and will supervise and control the system to meet the instantaneous
needs over the present hour.
these sets normally include:
0 Monitor,jng of the power system, its equipment and state
Power dispatching for optimizing the production cost and for balancing of load to
generation
o Interchange negotiations and evaluation of the influence on economy and security
o Performing switching activities, planned or post-disturbance reaction
post-dispatch activities analyze and process the information gathered during the dispatch
period to satisfy reporting requirements and to detect the contingencies among actual
disturbances. These activities then improve planning and operation of the power system.
Among the activities performed we find:
o Events and operator activity logging
o Statistical data gathering
o Operational reports generation
o Energy accounting
o Disturbance analysis
The man-machine subsystem of a computerized control center constitute
the operator interface towards the power system and its operation. A
conceptual outline is found in Figure 2.2.
According to the above description it is therefore obvious how important the quality,
functionality and versatility of the man-machine system are. Consequently man-machine
communication has its own chapter in this book.
2-3 Investment factors
Investment in a system based. on a computerized control center involves many cost
sources besides the basic system equipment procurement. Among these costs we can for
example mention auxiliary systems investments (i.e. power supply, cooling,
communication), utility work for adapting the existing power system, cost for operation
and maintenance organization and activities, spare parts and cost of extensions during the
lifetime of the system.
Power
Request for {Control el inemation ~t System
Information System
AN
Direct
ator . ane action]
Operation/ Cooperating Maintenance Utilities Staff
Figure 2.2 Operator activity, conceptual plan. (This figure relates to “Human Factors
Review of
Electric Power Dispatch Control Centers", rEPRI, 1983, RPRI-EL-1960, Research Project
1354-1.)
Today, most utilities try to calculate a lifetime cost of the complete control system
implementation, which is then compared to the estimated benefits during the entire
lifetime of the systen. Due to the earlier mentioned contradictory requirements in security
and economy, a great variety of methodologies have been developed in the cost-benefit
analysis for implementation of a computerized control center. Today, there is no commonly
accepted methodology for evaluating tne economic value or the cost-effectiveness of the
basic system procured and "Featuring" security- and economy-oriented functions.
Generally, each power utility therefore develops its own basis for the evaluation. However,
some common fectors can be identified.
Basically, the benefits of installing an advanced computerized system can be broken down
into three categories:
o Rationalization of the organization and its activities o Better economy of system
operation
o Enhancement of system reliability
PAYNE OY QUUETELUTICEUE. VwEry?
qhe penefits of the first category are easily economically quantified and can by their own
justify the basic investment (i.e. the SCADA gystem) - The new system imposes changes in
both the operational and maintenance organization, C8. | by the progress towards
unmanned substations and power stations. These changes most often mean a reduction in
personnel and cost of labor. They also often reduce the time and cost for travel etc. in the
operation. In many countries there is a lack of trained personnel and this justifies an
investment which of course may be measured in economical terms.
the benefits of the second category are generally easy and
straightforward to estimate and consequently a value can be assigned ,
to them. A number of methods are reported in the literature. The economics to be gained
by better system operation are usually enough to justify standard dispatching functions.
Economic optimization of the production resources has always been of great interest and
now both the schemes for operational planning and the optimized generation in real~time
are included in the computerized control center. The losses, both in .the production and in
the network, are of greater concern and means are consequently introduced to minimize
them.
Thus, just by evaluating the effects on rationalization and economics of operation, a
meaningful cost-benefit analysis of the system can be done. This may also include an
improvement in economic dispatch, load forecasting and unit commitment. However, the
economic gains of the control system can seldom on their own justify the investment in a
system containing security-oriented functions and therefore the cost-benefit analysis
includes the third category.
The security-oriented investment is often regarded as an insurance against breakdowns in
the power system (who has forgotten the 1977 New York black-out?). If a power utility has
experienced a major outage one may therefore say that a limited analysis is required for an
investment in security-oriented functions. If not, the "crisis
-atmosphere" does not exist and the justification needs some more
details.
There exist two approaches to this justification, each of them basing its value on enhanced
system reliability: cost of interruption and impact on capital equipment. ,
The estimate for cost of interruption originates from direct costs, e.g- a value per kWh
down-time, and indirect costs to society for a total or partial breakdown. The indirect costs
are usually thereby much greater than the direct costs. Both these costs are in reality
difficult to deduce and therefore a company policy is often established. A second question,
with regard to security, 1s how long the fictitious breakdown would last with and without
centralized control. Again different figures appear, e.g. an estimated down-time reduction
between 20% and 50% can be found when introducing centralized control.
WUINTU! Gulu VApuuluue
To estimate the benefits of capital investment involves looking at the control center in the
transmission system. The study then looks into alternate transmission network design and
operation due to the planned control center and assesses which is more economical. The
contribution to justify the investment is then determined by the cost for the reduced
equipment in the power system. If such alternatives exist, a substantia. justification is
usually achieved.
2.4 Control center experiences
: A great number of computerized control centers have been put into operation all over the
world during the last decade. Viewed from a global perspective this implementation has
often been a challenge for the utilities. Their new computerized tool often imposes changed
routines and provides extended possibilities for both operation and operational planning.
Besides that, the new computerized control systems require maintenance of a kind which is
not familiar to the existing maintenance staff. In addition, the record of problematic
projects and delayed deliveries indicate a rapid _ technological development. Experience
shows that standardized systems play a large role in a good record of successes. The
standardization covers both the functional scope and the design (hardware, software and
database), involving both flexibility and quality. Flexibility is required for the adaptation of
the system to different needs of the utilities and for the further expansion of the system
once installed and put into operation. Quality provides the basis for fulfilling the specified
requirements in‘terms of delivery time, functionality and performance; it also provides a
smooth implementation and maintains the availability of the system at the required level.
The importance of the fact that the operators can influence the design of the computer-
based systems during the project should be underlined.
Training of operators to ensure that they can use new aids effectively is also an important
part of a remote control project.
The functional requirements laid down by the utilities for today’s remote supervisory
control systems are comprehensive and vary Widely with different applications. The
SCADA functions always fulfill the basic requirements. The EMS functions then provide in
addition application oriented calculation aids for the operators.
The development of the power-oriented applications or EMS functions is carried through in
parallel with the SCADA development. Experience shows that it is important to closely
integrate these functions into the real-time system, both with regard to man-machine
communication and to the actual programming of the algorithms. The benefits for the

Power system control: why?

utilities are that not only system engineers but also the dispatchers
nay use the advanced tools. This real-time integration approach makes nell requirements
on the database concept, €-g. schema layout for network description, and study database
capabilities.
ooking into the overall system performance one can identify more
recise requirements from the utilities over the last ten years. technological developments
have today made it possible to fulfill most of these requirements, e.g. in the man-machine
response times where a one-line display is presented in typically 1 second, a new network
topology is presented in 5-10 seconds and state estimation can be implemented cyclically
at the data acquisition level. At the same time more functions and more frequent
applications have been implemented. The demands on system performance during a
disturbance are of great interest and one can expect even stricter requirements on event
processing and alarm classification in the future,
Today, the power utilities rely on the computerized control center for the operation itself, a
situation which will be accentuated in the future. Consequently, control system availability
has become more and more important and the demands toward even higher availability
figures will raise new demands on control system hardware and software design.
3 SUPERVISORY AND CONTROL FUNCTIONS
Computerized supervisory: control systems have now been in operation at power
utilities/authorities all over the world for 15 to, 20 years. The experience gained thus has
established a common set of basic functions operating in almost all system concepts
marketed, irrespective of system manufacturer. These functions are henceforth referred to
as SCADA functions.
When developing SCADA functions during recent years, the trend has quite clearly been to
establish a standardized system concept which can be adapted to the needs of and provide
variations for different utilities. Thus the SCADA system is a general hardware and
software concept providing a flexible set of functions. The actual use of the SCADA system
is specified by parameters defined in the database. This brings down system costs,
increases system reliability through its well-proven design, and makes project
development and implementation safe,
The SCADA system further constitutes a basis for implementing more advanced functions.
Earlier implementations of certain application functions, e.g. the state estimator, have been
carried out as back- ground activities with a very limited integration into the basic SCADA
software system. Today, some manufacturers have already begun the complete integration
of these functions, not only from a man-machine interface point of view, but also in
software and database design. and this is certain to continue. Chapter 8 takes up these
more advanced funetion concepts.
SCADA functions also provide for further development of the control system once it has
been put into operation. This is a_ basic requirement since it must be possible to add mew
power system components which are going to be monitored and controlled by the control
system. The computers of today allow for background software development and contain
easy-to-use system processors such as compilers and linkers. The software has a clearly
funetional and modular design which provides for easy updating and expansion. The
majority of software is written in high-level language. By the use of advanced real-time
database techniques it is possible to introduce new data and new structures easily as the
power system and functional content grow.