S.V. Vadari

Bio: S.V. Vadari is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Electric power industry & Electric utility. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 22 citations.

New faces and functions in a competitive market

Abstract: With the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Order 888/889 mandating open access of the nation's transmission network, the US electric utility industry begins its most significant transformation. Once highly regulated and organized into vertically integrated entities, the industry today is being restructured into a competitive arena made up of veterans as well as new players from other industries. All participants are facilitating change through the establishment of new business processes and information flow and in the development of the functions that will support a deregulated marketplace. They must take advantage of the advances in technology in designing and implementing the new applications and the systems that need to go with them. This article analyzes the implications of this massive change from the perspective of the various participants and shows how their roles are affected by the changes.

Reliability modeling of distributed generation in conventional distribution systems planning and analysis

Abstract: The primary objective of any electric utility company in the new competitive environment would be to increase the market value of the services it provides with the right amount of reliability, and at the same time, lower its costs for operation, maintenance, and construction of new facilities in order to provide lower rates for customers. The electric utility company will strive to achieve this objective via many different means, one of which is to defer the capital distribution facility requirements in favor of a distributed generation (DG) solution by an independent power producer (IPP) to meet the growing customer load demand. In this case, the distribution capital investment deferral credit received by the IPP will be dependent on the incremental system reliability improvement rendered by the DG solution. In other words, the size, location and the reliability of the DG will be based on the comparable incremental reliability provided by the distribution solution under considerations. This paper presents a reliability model for determining the DG equivalence to a distribution facility for use in distribution system planning studies in the new competitive environment.

Wide-area, real-time monitoring and visualization system

Abstract: A real-time performance monitoring system for monitoring an electric power grid. The electric power grid has a plurality of grid portions, each grid portion corresponding to one of a plurality of control areas. The real-time performance monitoring system includes a monitor computer for monitoring at least one of reliability metrics, generation metrics, transmission metrics, suppliers metrics, grid infrastructure security metrics, and markets metrics for the electric power grid. The data for metrics being monitored by the monitor computer are stored in a data base, and a visualization of the metrics is displayed on at least one display computer having a monitor. The at least one display computer in one said control area enables an operator to monitor the grid portion corresponding to a different said control area.

Application of customer interruption costs in transmission network reliability planning

Abstract: A method that can be utilized to ascertain the optimum level of power supply reliability is used to compare the incremental cost of providing reliability with the incremental benefit of that reliability. The benefit of an increment of reliability can be considered to be the change in the customer interruption cost related to the change in the reliability level. Reliability cost-reliability benefit assessment is, thus, an important aspect of electric power supply planning process. Customer interruption costs form an essential input to this reliability cost-reliability benefit assessment process. This paper illustrates the utilization of customer interruption cost information in transmission network reliability planning using Canada's Alberta Interconnected Transmission Grid. The methodology presented in this paper can readily be applied to industrial and commercial power systems.

A Two-Way Direct Control of Central Air-Conditioning Load Via the Internet

Abstract: A novel real-time optimization approach for two-way direct load control (TWDLC) of central air-conditioning chillers is proposed. For TWDLC, the main computer in the control center constantly monitors the average controllable load of every customer. For real-time calculations, a computationally fast and effective approach based on linear programming is proposed to determine the shedding ratio of every customer. The proposed optimization approach will minimize the difference between the load required to shed and the load actually shed at each sampling interval. Every customer's contribution to the load shedding is also leveled by the proposed approach. A gateway is installed at every customer's site to coordinate shedding control with the main computer through the Internet. As soon as the gateway receives the expected shedding ratio, it calculates the load required to shed and coordinates all chiller units in operation to conduct load shedding, thereby achieving the load reduction amount.

New energy management system architectural design and Intranet/Internet applications to power systems

Abstract: Utility companies are facing various deregulation and automation challenges. New guidelines have to be gradually defined in the evolving open-access market. Power system engineers need a set of state-of-the-art applications, e.g., OASIS and power resource trading, to analyze system reliability and/or gain economic benefits. The existing energy management system (EMS) functionality could not handle these new needs, e.g., energy buy/sale, new economic dispatch, etc., and need to be enhanced immediately. This paper investigates new power system application development requirements and propose a flexible EMS architectural design. The matured Intranet/Internet, relational database, and object-oriented technologies are fully utilized in the new infrastructure. The proposed EMS architecture has the features of flexibility, openness, consistent user-interface, etc. Therefore, it can meet the system migration and future enhancement requirements. The presented methodology has been successfully applied to the prototyping implementation of an energy accounting (EA) application. The results, benefits, and decision-making process of using the proposed approach are also reported.