IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - March/April 2018 - 58

considered a different field of power systems, but these topics are really complementary. new computing capacity, new
controls, new sensors, and new channels
of communications will lead to an increase
in interaction between these fields. rTe's
viewpoint is that the overall safety and performance of the system will benefit from
progress in the tools of the control room
as well as from those within substations.
Different voltage levels will be more intertwined than ever. This article presents two
developments on how Tso solutions can
address these new challenges.

figure 1. The complexity of a current control room is shown in RTE's
National Control Center. (Photo courtesy of RTE, used with permission.)

systems, which will facilitate the adaptation to this flexibility. among these levers of action, we have the following:
✔ the use of the large-scale grid as a smoothing mechanism (expansion in large systems)
✔ dynamic load management
✔ the optimal use of the system by operating the grid
closer to its limits and minimizing preventive margins through the full use of all grid control variables
(topology, management of transmission flows and
voltage, etc.)
✔ the implementation of power storage strategies
✔ pooling different energy systems into one energy delivery ecosystem.
a number of challenges relating to the integration of these
various levers, which are not mutually exclusive, will arise
in the near future for Tsos, notably in defining modalities
for their prioritization and activation.
rTe has developed and deployed innovative tools and
methods to manage uncertainty with regard to injections/
extractions due to variable generation, such as wind and solar.
rTe has improved operations by efficiently using resources
to securely operate the system closer to its limits.
This article focuses on two categories of development:
✔ energy management system (ems) functionalities
will be implemented in rTe control rooms in 2018.
its main framework is called apogée, which takes advantage of the outcome of an rTe-led r&D project
financed by the european Commission, called iTesla.
✔ a new concept of substation developed jointly with
Ge displays a pioneering smart substation concept
that enhances the control of the overall system. it is
already operational in one substation and should be
rolled out in more in the coming years.
Control centers are generally identified as a particular subject, related to control rooms and emss. substations are
58

ieee power & energy magazine

New Environment
and Tools for EMS

a new set of tools has been designed for
emss by rTe. The new solution offers the
operator a new level of hyper-vision and
automation that operations planning uses for up to two days
ahead of real time.

Central Issue: How to Prepare the
Control of the Grid of the Future
operators have to face an increasingly strained context with
more uncertainties. They also need to cope with new usages
of the grid (new behavior of players, new components on the
system, etc.).
To face these changes, the amount of information needed
to make operating decisions has increased. This leads to a
contradiction: operators must take quicker decisions to operate the system closer to its limits. However, operators in a
control room face a cluttered and complex work environment (Figure 1).

Proactive and Action-Oriented Tools
The new tool is a major improvement that swaps from reaction-oriented management of the system to complete predictive scheduling. Today's operator actions are decided near
real time or after a contingency occurs. With the future application of new tools, the temporal scope will be widely
expanded to Day+2 (two days ahead of operations). The tools
will allow rTe to capitalize on short time-horizon planning
studies as each successful operating strategy will enrich a
database of knowledge and then be used in simulations and
studies. The functional scope of the ems will be drastically
updated by proposing advanced business functions in terms
of visibility and mobility.

Strategic Information Management Approach
The core of this new system management capability relies
on a breakthrough in the strategic information management
approach for electrical system data. as input, the system has
to be fed complete data import from supervisory control and
march/april 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - March/April 2018