iTesla: Innovative tools for electrical system security within large areas

Summary form only given. Context: Security issues of the pan-European electricity transmission system are likely to become more and more challenging in the coming years due to: the growing contribution of less predictable and intermittent renewable energy sources (wind and photovoltaic generation) - the introduction of new controllable devices such as HVDC lines; a partially controllable electricity demand - the increasing difficulty to build new overhead transmission lines; the progressive construction of a single European electricity market. These new constraints but also new opportunities will result in more complex system operation, a grid working closer to its operational limits and therefore a need for a major revision of operational rules and procedures. In this context, it is clear that currently available tools for security assessment will no longer be suitable for network operators to take the right decisions. Furthermore, coordinated operation initiatives have already emerged for different regions of the pan-European transmission system (such as Coreso for instance). These coordination initiatives will not be fully efficient without a new generation of tools allowing the different TSOs to increase coordination. Objectives: The main goal of the iTesla project is to develop a novel toolbox able to support the operation of the pan-European grid in the coming years and to validate the different functionalities of this toolbox with datasets of increasing complexity and size. More precisely, this toolbox will support the decision-making process from two-days ahead to real time and will take up the three main following challenges:to perform accurate security assessment taking into account the dynamics of the system using time-domain simulations; to provide a risk-based assessment taking into account the different sources of uncertainties (in particular, those brought by intermittent power generation), the probabilities of contingencies and the possible failures- of corrective actions; to provide operators with relevant proposals of preventive and curative actions to keep the system in a secure state (such as generation redispatching, change in transformer tap position, topology of substations, set point values of HVDC lines or phase shift transformers). This toolbox will be designed to be used by a single TSO, by a coordination center such as Coreso or by a group of TSOs working in a coordinated way. In addition to the above objectives, the iTesla project will: Develop methodologies and tools for validation of dynamic models of components of the panEuropean system, using off-line analysis; these tools will be designed to determine model parameters using measured dynamic responses of the grid; and develop new concepts to design more robust defence plans and optimal restoration plans with the help of automatic tools (integration of renewables and distribution energy resources, use of time synchronized measurements from PMUs).