Ultra-Large Scale Control Architecture

Electric power grid complexity is growing rapidly as we attempt to support technical, business, and societal goals for which power grids were not originally designed. To ensure grid stability and have the ability to remain reliable under highly dynamic destabilizing conditions requires that grid control systems evolve in ways that address transformational changes and the resultant operational problems. Ultra-large scale power system control architecture - a macro architecture for grid control that handles multi-objective, multi-constraint problems in a framework that can support coordinated control across utility organizational boundaries and, potentially, prosumer premises. The keys to this approach are three-fold: rectify the macrostructure of grid control to eliminate the emerging chaos; introduce two-axis distributed control; apply multi-level hierarchical optimization tools to grid control design. This paper describes emerging issues in grid control and provides reasons why the present path of grid control evolution is problematic and presents an ultra-large scale architecture for grid control that can solve today's problems and those expected over the next 30 years.