Just off the coast of the Pacific Northwest lies the Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ); odds of a very large CSZ earthquake occurring in the next 50 years is estimated to be about 37%. A CSZ seismic event has the potential to cause wide scale damage not just to the power...
Global Positioning Systems have allowed for precise timing of power system measurements over wide areas. This newly found capability has the potential to provide much greater insight into the operation of the power system and its response to contingencies, but few analytical techniques currently exist that provide enough robustness and...
This Thesis aims to determine whether we can improve the accuracy, resolution, and speed of calculations for common power system problems using simple computational models that scale well to machine learning and high performance computing solutions. The second chapter of this Thesis implements more precise aging and degradation models for...
The electrical grid is a key component of the Nation's critical infrastructure. Its continuous and reliable operation is of vital importance; any system-wide disruption would have a debilitating impact on crucial services, public health and safety, the economy, and the national security of the United States.
High-impact low-frequency events pose...
Generation resources are shifting from centralized, high inertial, fossil fuel based to decentralized, no inertia, and variable renewable resources. The evolution of generation resources in electrical grids requires the transformation of the electrical grid infrastructure, and operation and planning procedures and standards. This dissertation takes four investigations into how to...
Load flow studies are one of the most essential engineering applications for grid operators because they provide a clear picture of the operating conditions of the power system. Traditionally, the load flow problem is assumed to be deterministic; that is, the system variables contain no randomness. Unfortunately, this assumption is...
With the increasing penetration of renewable energy integration and potential threats from natural disasters, modern electric power system have been significantly exposed to both small- and large-scale disturbances. Traditional performance metrics including indices of reliability, stability, and security are no longer adequate to describe a power network. Infrastructure properties like...
The electrical grid serves as one of the major lifelines to our society. We have come to expect electricity to be available when we want it. But the system that delivers power to us is very complex and made up of many individual pieces. Maintaining and operating this system reliably...
Dynamic modeling is key to the successful operation and reliability of electrical grids by evaluating transient stability. Developing dynamic load models and identifying where they are necessary is a challenging task as loads are an aggregation of individual devices that change throughout the year. This thesis investigates how to develop...
The majority of power system cascading models assume that system operators will
react perfectly and timely to an electrical event. However, as evidenced by several
blackouts in the last decades, the inadequate system operators’ situation awareness
and response can contribute significantly to the severity of an electrical disturbance.
Under these...
In recent years there have been many improvements in the reliability of critical infrastructure systems. Despite these improvements and despite targeted efforts to improve the operation and control of the electric grid, the power systems industry has seen relatively small advances in this regard. For instance, today's power system is...
Large databases and data warehouses are becoming prevalent for the storage and management of energy data. Accelerating the rates at which data can be retrieved is beneficial not only to allow for more efficient search of the data, but also to be integrated with other energy system tools. In this...
In the past two years, Oregon State University (OSU) Corvallis campus suffered several power outages. The estimated cost of one of those outages was close to a million dollars worth of equipment and impact on research projects. Meanwhile, the campus grid operates with severely aging power assets. The reliability of...
Graphs have a wide variety of real-world applications. In the area of social networks, graphs are composed of individuals and their relationships with others. Analysis of social networks led to the discovery of the small-world phenomena, which is also known as six degrees of separation. Our analysis is focused on...
The electric power grids of countries across the globe rely on load and generation forecasting to know when, where, and how much resources need to be dispatched to sustain proper grid operation. Because of this, forecasting needs to be highly accurate to avoid unnecessary resource dispatch which can be costly....
Scientists and engineers have to analyze and query multiple large databases. Analysis over databases created by phasor measurement units can provide insight into the health of the grid, thereby improving control over operations. Realizing this data-driven control, however, requires validating, processing and storing massive amounts of PMU data efficiently, which...
While electrification is currently one of the largest trends in the automotive world, other related industries are also evaluating electrification opportunities as a means to reduce environmental impact, emissions, and noise pollution. One such sector is the aviation industry. While it is generally accepted that all-electric aircraft are not a...
Substations are a crucial element at the transmission and distribution level of electric power systems. The primary substation equipment (power transformers and high voltage switching equipment) is used to transfer and transform electric energy by stepping up or down the voltage in transmission substations. Secondary equipment (such as IEDs, Intelligent...
As the future electrical power systems tend towards smarter and greener technology, thedeployment of self-sufficient networks, or microgrids, becomes more likely. Microgridsmay operate on their own or synchronized with the main grid, thus control methodsneed to take into account islanding and reconnecting said networks. Isolation of subnetworks may be necessary...
Generating abundant, renewable energy from Earth’s oceans is an attractive option for meeting increasing energy demand. Marine renewable energy also comes with the variability of renewable sources, which impact the reliability and power quality of the electrical grid. On a transmission-level, this dissertation looks at ensuring reliability of the power...