Keeping It Together: Transient Stability in a World of Wind and Solar Generation

While there are myriad economic, societal, and operational debates associated with the continued growth of wind and solar generation, on one aspect there is uniform consensus: maintaining power system reliability is essential. There are many facets to system reliability, and one is transient stability. This arcane branch of power system engineering is opaque to the casual participant, yet successful system operation demands that we get it right. In greatly simplified shorthand, maintaining transient stability means keeping enough of the bits of the power system, i.e., generation, transmission, and distribution, connected to avoid interrupting customers after the grid is whacked by Mother Nature or more nefarious forces.