Next-Generation Power Information System

Power monitoring systems (power quality monitors, digital fault recorders, digital relays, advanced controllers, etc.) continue to get more powerful and provide a growing array of benefits to overall power system operation and performance evaluation. Permanent monitoring systems are used to track ongoing performance, to watch for conditions that could require attention, and to provide information for utility and customer personnel when there is a problem to investigate. An important development area for these monitoring systems is the implementation of intelligent systems that can automatically evaluate disturbances and conditions to make conclusions about the cause of a problem or even predict problems before they occur. This paper describes the development of a Next Generation Power Information System that will provide an open platform for implementing advanced monitoring system applications that involve integration with many different data sources. The work builds on many years of experience with software for management and analysis of large power quality monitoring systems.