Redefining Risk for Next Generation Bulk Power Grid: A System Operation Perspective

With the integration of utility scale renewable energy plants, the transmission network is facing tremendous challenges in terms of increased operational risks from renewables, dynamics-induced instabilities, fluctuating market economics, etc. The next generation grid operators should develop tools to find a balance between different types of risks and system performance optimization. Even though the approaches such as stochastic unit-commitment, probabilistic optimal power flow, physics-aware learning and control methods exist, their implementation in large-scale models face computational and feasibility challenges. To address these bottlenecks, the first step is to explicitly define risk with deterministic range-based risk-scoring, i.e., tranche level characterization of the system parameters and then formulate a multi-objective optimization solver which can tradeoff between various classes of risk-awareness and enhance the global performance of the system. This panel session will bring together experts from both industry and academia to find the roadmap in navigating through these risks strategically.