Patents on Smart Power System Operation and Control Techniques

Abstract

As the trend toward modernization of todays electric power systems deepens, some fundamental problems with electric power systems remain unchanged - system reliability, optimized unit commitment, optimal generation allocation, load forecast, optimal unit control. This paper presents an overview of a series of innovations that have been implemented for better electric power transmission and distribution systems over the past decade, when deregulation has become widely accepted and energy market system designs become more standardized. Several key aspects are reviewed: Power system operation, power system control, and power system markets. Developments, as revealed especially in recent patents, in several important functional areas are emphatically discussed: voltage stability, unit commitment, load forecast, market dispatch. A unified framework is presented in which all these discussions are conducted, and formulated in a unified perspective, where prediction, optimization and control are integrated and work together to attempt to achieve the best overall system control performance, system economics, and yet maintain system stability and required reliability. Keywords: Smart Grid, load forecast, voltage stability, optimal power flow, unit commitment, economic dispatch, generation allocation, load prediction, neural networks, optimization