Last week, a major power outage hit Spain, Portugal, and half of France, affecting millions of people. This blackout caused serious disruptions to essential services and businesses. As Europe addresses the effects of this outage, we spoke with ELEKS energy industry experts, Volodymyr Konoval, Director of DAKAR, and Yurii Shelekh, Power Systems Engineer, about how advanced technologies can help power companies prevent and respond to such events in our interconnected electrical grids.
How can software help with power outages?
Software nowadays plays a crucial role in managing complex systems, such as power grids, which require processing vast amounts of data. Using digital tools for managing the power grids allows us to do step-by-step tracking of changes in the power grids, such as maintaining voltage levels and permissive power load during the process of grid restoration. It is important that the post-event power grid restoration is considered separately with each of the neighbouring power systems (from neighbouring countries) or independently with its own generation capacities and load. In addition to that, software allows to carry out dynamic stability analysis in the post-event restoration mode, since there will be large-scale fluctuations in the generation and load. This means all the analysis should be carried out prior to any physical switching within the circuit to prevent the occurrence of a new emergency situation.
What role can AI and machine learning play in predicting grid vulnerabilities?
AI and machine learning can enhance the prediction of grid vulnerabilities in several ways:
- Forecasting the situations and critical accidents which can occur in the power grids. Here is where the simulation and modelling steps come in and help to predict and analyse different scenarios, as well as identify grid vulnerabilities and understand how the grid will react. AI can accurately forecast electricity demand, helping to balance supply and demand and prevent overloading of the grid. This enables data-driven decision making and efficient management, especially for the interconnected networks.
- Improving contingency analysis and identifying “weak connections”.
- Monitoring the effects of physical aging on electrical equipment and various external. This enables the prediction and identification of potential vulnerabilities in the electrical power grids that might not be visible under normal operating conditions. For instance, chemical emissions can degrade insulation properties or cause wire corrosion, leading to compromised grid integrity.
- Predicting fluctuations in renewable energy sources (RES) generation and assessing their impact on overall power system operations is essential. This involves providing actionable insights to dispatching agencies, particularly issuing alerts ahead of severe weather events.
What software is most critical for grid stability during rapid shifts between power sources in interconnected European networks?
Several software solutions can be listed as critical for maintaining grid stability. Among them are:
- Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, which is a system of software and hardware and is essential for monitoring the status of the power system. It provides precise and timely information about the power grid, ensuring accurate and efficient oversight of grid operations.
- A Wide Area Monitoring System (WAMS) is an advanced technology used to monitor grid oscillations and verify normal activity.
- Communication systems software across various levels of operational management: from the substation supervisor to the dispatcher.
- Real-time (online) calculations for evaluating the status of the power system.
- Software for predicting electricity generation from RES (or other variable energy sources) to provide a more precise evaluation of potential balances and imbalances in the power system.
- Software for the remote management of backup energy storage systems.
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