The Next Generation EMS Design

(PSERC) is a multi-university Center conducting research on challenges facing the electric power industry and educating the next generation of power engineers. More information about PSERC can be found at the Center's website: Notice Concerning Copyright Material PSERC members are given permission to copy without fee all or part of this publication for internal use if appropriate attribution is given to this document as the source material. This report is available for downloading from the PSERC website. research project titled " The Next Generation EMS Design " (project T-45). We express our appreciation for the support provided by PSERC's industry members and by the Energy Management Systems (EMS) were invented in the seventies to add computationally intensive applications to the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) Systems which were introduced as the core infrastructure for scanning the field data in the sixties. Over the last 50 years, many EMS functions were implemented and SCADA was further enhanced. Recently, limitations of low scanning capability of traditional SCADA became obvious and new substation Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs) such as Digital Protective Relays (DPRs), Digital Fault Recorders (DFRs) and Phasor Measurement units (PMUs) offered much better time resolution of the field measurements. Such developments led to a question addressed in this project: how should future EMS systems evolve assuming that new IEDs may be integrated in a common data measurement infrastructure? This report is organized in eight sections. The first section presents the project objectives and a brief survey of the literature highlighting the various views on EMS enhancements. This section identifies the need for new EMS design with the following desirable features (a) integration of field data; (b) introduction of new decision-making tools based on data analytics for knowledge extraction; and (c) flexible implementation architecture that allows transition from legacy to new designs. The second section presents a brief technical background of legacy EMS designs. The perspectives of original EMS architects on designing the original data acquisition system are discussed. The limitations of the conventional SCADA system in monitoring the system states comprehensively is identified as the root cause for redesigning the EMS system. The mismatch between legacy and new EMS design requirements affect data acquisition, data management, and communication architecture. This mismatch opens new opportunities for data acquisition system enhancements. The third section introduces the technology developments in the field monitoring devices and the issues in the current power system operating …