Electric Power Grid Operations

Electric Power Grid Operations is an 8-hour class dedicated to exploring the question: how does the electric grid work? It provides detailed learning on how each electric utility, each balancing authority and each major interconnection matches generation to load while ensuring reliable operations. 

Topics Include

Matching generation to load in electric utilities that own generation

• Relationship of frequency to load

• Governor control for matching generation to load

• How generators change output megawatts without changing speed

• Phasors

• Automatic Generation Control (AGC) for matching generation to load

• Area Control Error (ACE) for matching generation to load

• Producing energy

• Selling energy

• Daily and annual demand curves

Matching generation to load in electric utilities that do not own generation

• Fully integrated utilities that own generation, transmission and distribution

• Daily and annual demand curves

• G&Ts (Utilities that only have generation and transmission)

• IPP (independent power producers)

• Energy traders

• Customer-owned generation

• Microgrids

• Purchasing energy

Balancing Authorities

• Control areas

• Relationship of frequency to load

• Area Control Error (ACE) for matching generation to load

• Scheduling generation,. Short and long term

Wheeling

• The Big Lie of, “Power takes the path of least resistance”

• Scheduled flow of energy

• Actual flow of energy

• Inadvertent flow of energy

• Reimbursing transmission owners for inadvertent flow of energy

• Phase shift transformers
  (also called phase shifters and phase angle transformers)

• Settlements

• Scheduling transmission,. Short and long term

Four Major Interconnections

• Quebec, Eastern, ERCOT and Western

• AC-DC-AC ties between interconnections

• Roles of Independent System Operators (ISOs) and Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs)

• Time-error corrections

• Phasor measurement

• Synchrophasors

Reactive Power

• Inductive and capacitive reactive power

• Impacts on transmission line loading

• Shunt capacitors and shunt reactors

• Generator VArs

• Synchronous condenser VArs

• LTCs, TCULs & OLTCs

Reliability Measures

• Spinning reserve

• Non-spinning reserve

• Demand response

• Customer emergency generators

• Voltage reduction (Brownouts)

• Blackouts

• Underfrequency load shedding

• Underfrequency islanding

• Synchrophasors in predicting catastrophic outages

Price
$7,200 for first 24 students and $300 for each additional student plus instructor expenses from Portland, Oregon and shipping of books.

If you are a smaller municipal utility or co-op without 24 people for a class, have a utility association to which your utility belongs sponsor the class. If the association cannot, we have two recommendations. One is to contact neighboring utilities and determine their interest in jointly sponsoring a class. The second is to email PTS@utilitytraining.net and request a list of other associations who are conducting a class. PTS will provide links to the associations for any classes that are currently scheduled.

Prerequisites
Students registering for the Grid Operations class must have a solid understanding of voltage and current, AC versus DC, 3-phase generators including generator excitation, circuit breakers, capacitors, and transformers including a transformer’s Load Tap Changer (LTC). An LTC is also called Tap Chang Under Load (TCUL) and On Load Tap Changer (OLTC).

Pre-class Quiz
A 10-minute multiple choice quiz will be administered at the beginning of the class to determine students’ understanding of the above prerequisites. We use the quiz results to determine the correlation of understanding the prerequisites to how each student evaluates the class.

Who Should Attend

• Transmission operators

• Trainee transmission operators

• Reliability operators in ISOs and RTOs

• Electrical engineers new to electric utilities

• Electrical engineers in specialized areas seeking to expand career opportunities

• Electrical engineers moving into management in larger utilities

• Generation planners

• Transmission planners

• Government employees responsible for approving new transmission corridors