This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to develop a novel state estimator for power system operations. The research objectives are to develop a commercialized software package of state estimation and conduct testing on different power systems including real systems. This research will use techniques from graph theory, linear algebra, and high dimensional statistics. The novelty of the research is in bringing together cutting-edge ideas from these diverse disciplines to solve the problem of robustness in current state estimators used in power industry. The anticipated technical results include a commercialized software package that largely improves the system monitoring and therefore the operation security of power systems.
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project includes 1) the targeted problem (power system state estimator) is extremely critical in modern power grids or smart grids and can help prevent system-wide failures or blackouts if properly handled, 2) the certainty of commercialization of the proposed approach warranting significant NSF support because the provided solution is fast enough for the real-time application and the new state estimator does not ask for additional inputs or requirements comparing with the existing ones, 3) the research team is formed by technical as well as marketing personnel which ensures the success of the sales of the products, 4) the uniqueness of the proposed approach which provides competitive benefits to the market that cannot be met by alternate technologies and can attract further funding from non-SBIR sources and result in direct sales to power industry, 5) the proposed approach develops a unique formulation/solution of state estimation which very possibly leads to further innovations, 6) the new procedure of the proposed approach based on unique formulation and unique philosophy can promote teaching, training and learning in the area of state estimation.
The key outcomes of NSF SBIR Phase I project: 1). Have successfully validated that SEG Topology Estimator is able to detect branch types of topology errors for large real power system 2). Have successfully validated that SEG Topology Estimator is able to detect breaker/switch types of topology errors on large real power system which is another big concern of power system operators and engineers. 3). Have obtained a very high successful detection rate (>92.0%) of branch types of topology errors for a large real power system. The successful detection rate is not sensitive to the number of topology errors which is an excellent feature for the future applications in power systems. 4). The CPU time used for each test is short enough for power system operations, which shows SEG topology estimator is able to be utilized in real-time operations of power systems. The intellectual merit of Phase I project lies in 1) achieving a fast and robust solution to a 40-years open problem of robustness in power system state estimation, which is a critical and challenging problem in power system state estimation, 2) developing a unique formulation of state estimation which easily prevents the robust problems suffered by the existing approaches to state estimation and which provides advanced knowledge and understanding in the area of state estimation, 3) a well-qualified team lead by the PI who has research experience in state estimation for more than 15 years and has published actively and widely in state estimation and other related areas, 4) the high originality of the proposed solution which is developed based on a completely different philosophy than the existing ones, and it enjoys the innovation even in the theory of statistics, 5) the sufficient access to resources because of the PI’s research experience in this area, and 6) reflecting state-of-the-art in the area of power system state estimation – presently one of major research activities. The broader impacts of Phase I project include 1) the targeted problem (power system state estimator) is extremely critical in modern power grids or smart grids which may help prevent system-wide failures or blackouts if properly handled, 2) the certainty of commercialization of the proposed approach warranting significant NSF support because the provided solution is fast enough for the real-time application and the new state estimator does not ask for additional inputs or requirements comparing with the existing ones, 3) the research team is formed by technical as well as marketing personnel which ensures the success of the sales of the products, 4) the uniqueness of the proposed approach which provides competitive benefits to the market that cannot be met by alternate technologies and can attract further funding from non-SBIR sources and result in direct sales to power industry, 5) the proposed approach develops a unique formulation/solution of state estimation which very possibly leads to further innovations, 6) the new procedure of the proposed approach based on unique formulation and unique philosophy can promote teaching, training and learning in the area of state estimation.
