Joint Synchronized Information Subcommittee (JSIS)
DRAFT Meeting Minutes
March 3, 2015 8:30 a.m. to
March 5, 2015 12:00 p.m.
Salt Lake City, UT
1. Welcome
Donald Davies reviewed the WECC Antitrust Guidelines. Attendees were asked to introduce
themselves. A list of attendees is included as Exhibit A.
2. Agenda
Dmitry Kosterev reviewed the JSIS agenda, which the committee approved by consensus.
3. North American SynchroPhasor Initiative (NASPI) Update
Alison Silverstein gave an update on NASPI activities (link). She reviewed items from the last
meeting (October 2014) and gave a preview of upcoming topics for March 2015. Two papers will
be published in the next few weeks addressing model validation and equipment misoperations.
She reported on the synchrophasor software exchange, which is a Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory (PNNL)-hosted collection of free software that can be used for synchrophasor-related
uses and will be rolled out this month.
4. Utility Reports
Utilities gave presentations on their system capabilities and included information on their
infrastructure, Phasor Measurement Units (PMU), data management protocols, data archives,
engineering analysis applications control room applications, and expectations from WISP 2.0, JSIS,
and NASPI. The following utilities gave updates:
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Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) – Tony Faris
California Independent System Operator (CAISO) – Jim Hebert (link)
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) – Ron Markham
PacifiCorp (PAC) – Michael Okapal and Song Wang (link)
San Diego Gas & Electric (SDGE) – Hassan Baklou
Idaho Power (IPC) – Milorad Papic (link)
Salt River Project (SRP) – Naim Logic (link)
Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) – Patrick Kautzman
Southern California Edison (SCE) – Frank Ashrafi and Armando Salazar (link)
WESTERN ELECTRICITY COORDINATING COUNCIL
155 NORTH 400 WEST, SUITE 200
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 84103-1114
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Discussion on Utility Reports
Committee members agreed that there is significant PMU coverage in the West. Ms. Silverstein
asked if the group would like to schedule tutorials on how to add PMU capabilities to existing
facilities, and the group agreed.
The group discussed whether entities consider PMUs to be Critical Cyber Assets.
5. NASPI Proposed Maturity Model for Synchrophasor Deployment
Ms. Silverstein reviewed NASPI’s Proposed Maturity Model (link), which provides a roadmap for
effective synchrophasor deployment and highlights the role of business practices and institutional
support in technology adoption. Five key pillars for technology maturity include: infrastructure,
communications, data quality, analytics and utilization, and business practices. Over time,
technology matures from a conceptual level (level 1) to full integration (level 5). Each pillar may
develop at different rates.
6. Western Interconnection Synchrophasor Program (WISP) 1.0 Reporting
Scott Downey reviewed a Peak Reliability (Peak) data request and displayed the spreadsheet that
will be used to collect the data. The next report is due at the end of March. Utilities are requested
to help submit information for the request.
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Peak Reliability Synchrophasor Program (PRSP) - WISP 2.0
Peak is the recipient of a Department of Energy (DOE) grant to improve PMU information
including: data availability, data accuracy, the PMU Registry, increased data sharing, and increased
data usage in the control room. The project will also allow use of PMU data in automated controls
and in the Voltage Stability application. Peak will develop baselining tools for PMU data. (link)
Work is already underway, but the DOE has not yet signed the grant contract. Peak will not sign
any vendor contracts until the grant contract is in place.
8. V&R Energy Project under the PRSP
Marianna Vaiman gave an update on V&R Energy’s development of the Grid Operator’s
Monitoring & Control Assistant (GOMCA) link. Ms. Vaiman reviewed current tools available and
some of their shortcomings. V&R is working with BPA, CAISO, IPC, Peak, SCE, and SGE to develop
real-time monitoring and control based on the Region of Stability Existence (ROSE) platform.
Project objectives include: demonstration of V&R Energy’s Liner State Estimator on a realistic
WECC network, measurement-based analysis, ROSE integration with Energy Management System/
Phasor Data Concentrator (EMS/PDC) systems and technology transfer to team participants.
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9. PRC-002 Update
Ryan Quint gave an update on the status of PRC-002 and its requirements. The standard was
approved by the NERC Board and has been submitted to FERC. It defines elements that need
dynamic disturbance monitoring, including synchrophasors.
10. Common Data Format for Engineering Applications
Mr. Kosterev reviewed ongoing efforts to extract data from Plant Information (PI) servers. The
group discussed available data formats such as .csv.
Eric Allen from NERC demonstrated how the COMmon format for TRansient Data Exchange for
power systems (COMTRADE) data reader can be used for dynamics simulation results (link).
11. Model Validation Overview
Mr. Kosterev gave an overview of model validation efforts (link). He said that WECC began
requiring generators to be tested for model validation in 1996. As of 2006, WECC established a
formal Generating Unit Model Validation Policy and currently, NERC Standards are in effect. Once
good models are in place, they can be used as a diagnostic tool to identify things that are out of
the norm. The DOE is in the process of producing a report on Model Validation.
12. Model Validation & Calibration Efforts
Power Plant Parameters Derivation Tool (PPPD)
Pouyan Pourbeik from Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) gave an update on the PPPD tool
(link), which currently has 23 users. The tool allows users to validate generator, exciter, and
turbine-governor models. He reviewed the key benefits of the system.
Model Validation Paper
Frank Tuffner from PNNL said that the Model Validation Paper is currently going through final
revisions. The group is aiming for a March 20th release.
PI Data Reader
Pavel Etingov displayed PI data extraction capabilities. The system is available to utilities that want
to implement it.
PG&E Model Validation Application
PG&E gave an update on its Power Plant Model Validation application and modeling efforts. The
presentation included recommendations for PSS model changes.
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Generator Parameter Validation (GPV)
Kevin Chen from Electric Power Group (EPG) gave a presentation on the GPV process (link) and
described testing and findings using real PMU data.
Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories Inc. (SEL) Application on Power Plant Monitoring
Nicholas Seeley from SEL gave an update on power plant monitoring capabilities.
Real-Time Load Composition Estimation
Eduardo Cotilla-Sanchez from Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) gave an update on BPA’s
Real-Time Load Composition Estimation project.
PMU Load Monitoring
Joe Eto from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab gave an update on the Distribution PMU Application
(link), which is an Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) project. The project will
develop a network of high-precision PMUs to measure voltage phasors. The project is meant to
answer whether synchronized distribution-level phasor measurements enhance planning for
power flow and system control, security and resiliency of a modernized grid. Project completion is
planned for April 2016.
Peak Reliability Update
Peak Reliability staff gave an update on the West-wide System Model (WSM), Positive Sequence
Load Flow (PSLF) node-breaker model, and Model Validation using WSM cases in PSLF. They
explained upcoming developments for their applications. Tool capabilities were explained and the
group reviewed some past events.
13. Frequency Response Analysis
NERC BAL-003-1 Update
Mr. Kosterev gave an update regarding BPA’s preparations for the BAL-003-1 standard (link), which
deals with Frequency Response. The standard aims to require sufficient Frequency Response from
the Balancing Authority to maintain Interconnection Frequency within predefined bounds and
provide consistent methods for measuring Frequency Response and determining the Frequency
Bias Setting.
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WECC Frequency Response Tool
Pavel Etingov demonstrated a Frequency Response tool that contains a database of events and
shows information about the events including frequency, system response, etc.
Frequency Response Event Triggers
The group discussed what types of triggers are used to create notifications associated with
frequency events. They considered whether there may be instances of false triggers.
Event Triggers, Oscillation Modeling and Data Mining
Raymond de Callafon gave an update on research efforts at University of California, San Diego
(UCSD). The group is working on software that will automatically detect an event, characterize it,
and then data mine it. He demonstrated software capabilities.
The group discussed plans to distribute this software at the next NASPI meeting.
System Frequency Response – Linearization Analysis
Felipe Wilches-Bernal and Joe Chow demonstrated a system frequency-response-linearization
analysis (link).
14. Data Delivery and Availability
Dan Brancaccio from Peak gave an update on data delivery and management. Topics included:
a. PMU Registry (link) - The PMU Registry is fully automated on the front end. Users can view all
PMUs and can edit their own PMU information.
b. Data availability statistics (link)
c. WISP WAN performance statistics (link)
d. Inter-utility data exchange
e. PMU data views at the host utility vs. data recipient
f. Best practices for data management
g. Peak improvements in data availability
15. Data Validity, Calibration and Conditioning
Slava Maslennikov of ISO New England described a PMU data validation effort (link), which
consists of multiple components: Data Quality Management System (DQMS), Numerical PMU
Calibration, and Linear State Estimator. The latter two components do not currently exist at the
ISO-NE.
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Tony Faris described model validation techniques used by BPA.
Lei Wang of PowerTech labs discussed an emulated PMU test bed and capabilities. He gave an
example of ePMU operations (link).
16. Voltage Stability Applications
The group reviewed various approaches toward addressing voltage stability issues.
Marianna Vaiman reviewed approaches to computing phase angle limits (link). Computations are
based on state estimation and PMU data.
Hongming Zhang of Peak Reliability described quality improvement efforts currently underway
that will fix some software and clean up the WSM.
17. Oscillation Analysis Work Group (OAWG) Activities
OAWG-Proposed Oscillation Terms
Dan Trudnowski and John Pierre summarized efforts to define oscillation terminology and create a
tutorial for users. The group reviewed proposed definitions and debated some of the language
presented. Mr. Trudnowski commented that the OAWG group meets regularly and invited anyone
to participate. JSIS members suggested that this document be posted for comment before it is
finalized.
18. Oscillation Analysis Methods
Dan Trudnowski described efforts related to mode metering. He also described Modal Analysis
Software (MAS), which has been designed for use in a control center.
Bernie Lesieutre described oscillation detection and modal analysis of ambient data by using
matched filters (link).
19. Operational Solutions
Jim Follum of PNNL reviewed the impact of forced oscillations on mode estimates (link).
Dmitry Kosterev described a paper that has been developed at BPA on Oscillations Causes and
Historic Events. So far, the paper is restricted to internal use, but BPA is looking for ways to share
with other entities. The paper looks at various types of oscillations and describes how tools could
detect oscillations that have occurred during past BPA events.
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20. Generator Damping Assessment
Joe Chow reviewed Wide-Area Damping Monitoring using PMU data (link).
21. Data Validation and Conditioning Application
Electric Power Group described a new project that they are working on with WECC (link). They
described the Synchrophasor Data Validation and Conditioning Application (SDVCA) system and
explained modeless validation.
22. Data Mining Applications
Overview and BPA Data Mining Projects
Tony Faris described BPA’s data mining efforts. The BPA lab archive currently grows at three
terabytes per month and it is very difficult to search through the large quantity of data coming
from BPA’s PMUs. Long-term validation is needed. Mr. Faris stressed the need for quick
processing.
University of California – San Diego (USCD) Application on data mining
UCSD is working on predictive algorithms run on supercomputers. The work allows for the
identification of events via classification. Methods of anomaly detection were discussed.
Electric Power Group (EPG) experience data mining for the Electric Reliability Council of
Texas (ERCOT)
Prashant Palayam explained data mining for oscillations from wind generators at ERCOT. He
explained efforts to perform phasor data-mining analytics to investigate oscillations in the ERCOT
Interconnection.
PNNL reviewed efforts to run multivariate statistical algorithms, which are used to find patterns
and discover anomalies. PNNL runs a Web-based DSAT Analysis Software tool to perform the
analysis.
23. Next JSIS Meeting
The committee decided to have two meetings per year instead of three. The next meeting is
scheduled for September 22-24 in Salt Lake City. Committee members suggested that future
meetings allow for more discussion time and be more focused on specific topics.
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24. Vendor Presentations
Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories Inc. (SEL)
Jared Bestebreur from SEL demonstrated available System Wide Event Analysis tools and
described the future direction of tool development. He displayed the Synchrowave Central tool.
Electric Power Group (EPG)
Ken Martin and Kevin Chen reviewed various EPG products and services that are available for
EPG’s customers.
Alstom Grid
Guru Pai and Manu Parashar of Alstom Grid presented on Wide Area Monitoring and Grid Stability
products. They described what they are doing to get information into EMS systems. They
explained the Alstom approach to grid stability management, which includes Wide Area Control,
Engineering Analysis, and Control Room Operations.
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Exhibit A: Attendance
Naresh Acharya
Aftab Alam
Eric Allen
Brett Amidan
Jared Bestebreur
Dan Brancaccio
Ellery Blood
Ray Byrne
Godfrey Capiral
Joe Chow
Eduardo Cotilla-Sanchez
Jeff Dagle
Donald Davies
Raymond de Callafon
Ashley Donahoo
Scott Downey
Dongliang Duan
Pavel Etingov
Joe Eto
Tony Faris
Jim Follum
James Hanson
Jennifer Hart
Jim Hiebert
Pat Kautzman
Yutaka Kokai
Bernard Leiseutre
Dmitry Kosterev
Maximilian Liehr
Naim Logic
Ron Markham
Ken Martin
Slava Maslennikov
Gordon Matthews
Mike Okapal
Prashant Palayam Chandrasekar
Milorad Papic
John Pierre
Pouyan Pourbeik
Tim Reynolds
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GE Global Research
California ISO
NERC
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories Inc.
Bridge Energy Group
Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories Inc.
Sandia National Labs
Peak RC
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Oregon State University
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
WECC
University of California, San Diego
Bonneville Power Administration
Peak Reliability
University of Wyoming
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
Bonneville Power Administration
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
WECC
WECC
California ISO
Western Area Power Administration
Hitachi America, Ltd.
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Bonneville Power Administration
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Salt River Project
Pacific Gas and Electric
Electric Power Group
ISO New England
Bonneville Power Administration
PacifiCorp
Electric Power Group
Idaho Power
University of Wyoming
Electric Power Research Institute
WECC
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Paul Runanu
Armando Salazar
Faranak Sarbaz
David Schoenwald
Jerry Schuman
Nicholas Seeley
Alison Silverstein
Richard Sootkoos
Kyle Thomas
Brian Thomas
Frank Tuffner
Marianna Vaiman
Mani Venkatasubramanian
Song Wang
Lei Wang
Felipe Wilches-Bernal
Ran Xu
Jun Yamazaki
Steve Yang
Hongming Zhang
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Western Area Power Administration
Southern California Edison
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
Sandia National Laboratories
PingThings, Inc.
Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories Inc
NASPI
PingThings
Dominion Virginia Power
General Electric
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
V&R Energy
Washington State University
PacifiCorp
Powertech Labs Inc.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Peak Reliability
Hitachi America Ltd.
Bonneville Power Administration
Peak Reliability
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