Automatic Generation of Substation Switching Sequences

摘要

A switching sequence (SS) contains a list of operations to be executed in the electrical grid with the aim of reconfiguring the network in order to avoid power supply interruption, even during equipment maintenance or in the presence of electrical anomalies. The generation of a SS is typically fully manual and occurs in both pre-operation and real-time operation sectors. There are two critical problems related to SS manual generation, especially under real-time operation: (1) a delay in designing and analyzing the operation sequence can result in financial losses associated with the interruption of power supply; (2) the rush to deal with emergency situations makes the generation and analysis process more susceptible to errors. With these problems in mind, this study presents and evaluates a technique to automate the SS generation process. Our solution is characterized by (i) using real-time information about the electrical grid; (ii) using scalable and topology-independent algorithms; (iii) inferring interlocking rules through electrical principles applied to the topology; (iv) identifying protection transfer schemes automatically. As a result of these characteristics, the technique can generate safe SSs from the electrical point of view, with minimum software maintenance effort. The technique has been validated in partnership with CHESF, one of the largest Brazilian electric power companies. Preliminary assessments have been positive, showing that generated SS do not contain errors. This evaluation also demonstrates that a proof-of-concept tool developed has been well accepted by CHESF's operation supervisors and operators.