Decision support for energy management systems

Operating a power network is a difficult task because a power network is a dynamic, changing system functioning in a dynamic, changing environment. Operators use energy management systems (EMS) to help them operate the network, but finally the control of power networks is still based on the intervention of operators. With ever-increasing system complexity, operators clearly require more sophisticated assistance, i.e., the need for more formalized decision support in EMS. The only way to reduce the complexity of operating in any general and substantial way is to integrate decision support with the whole operating process. The authors´ research adopts a large-scale approach in order to achieve this. They first explore the issues associated with operating. They then consider the need for decision support and discuss proposals for a decision support framework. The key aspect to the research is making the available but non-homogeneous information easily accessible to the operator by using knowledge-based and object-oriented techniques