Interactive modelling of substation switching operations following a failure event

Substation automation has, as its prime objective, the need to satisfy the increasingly demanding requirements of the power systems concerned. The most important requirement is to ensure that the power system, as a whole, is operated and controlled in the most effective, secure and economic manner possible. In HV and EHV substations, decisions must be taken quickly and safely to achieve rapid restoration of supply and speedy return to normal operating conditions following a substation equipment fault or other substation abnormality. The paper presents interactive techniques for substation automation by describing the models and computational techniques that have been developed to model the substation configuration and detect the available restoration operations following a fault in substation equipment. These techniques recognise the existing, at the time of fault, operational configuration of the substation by inputting the operating states of the breakers and isolators. The increased and more meaningful information of substation operation that can be gained from these techniques is illustrated by the analysis of a typical Hellenic high-voltage substation.