SGC Webinars
An Extensible Approach for Modeling the Impact of Deterministic and Stochastic External Inputs in the Power Flow and Contingency Analysis
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail” is a quote widely attributed to Benjamin Franklin that certainly applies to large-scale electric grids. Of course, the electric grid is planned, and its excellent overall performance in the past is certainly testament, in part, to the skill of the many people involved in this task. However, the grid is rapidly changing, as is the world itself with natural hazards becoming increasingly costly. This presentation covers an approach for modeling the impact of weather and other external inputs (EXIs) in the power flow, contingency analysis, and optimal power flow (OPF), with consideration of both deterministic and stochastic models. The need for this work is due to growing dependence of large-scale grids on the weather, the need to model the impact of many other EXIs, and the rapid increase of electric loads in many locations due to data centers and further electrification of various industries. The work presents a relatively easy to implement and extensible modeling approach for directly including EXIs in the power flow, and then by extension to contingency analysis and OPF. Results are demonstrated using weather and earthquake scenarios on several synthetic electric grids with up to 27,000 buses. Slides can be found here
Speaker
Dr. Thomas J. Overbye is a Professor and holder of the O’Donnell Foundation Chair III in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University (TAMU). Prior to joining TAMU in 2017 he was a Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his BS, MS, and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before starting his academic career, he was employed with Madison Gas and Electric Company. He is the original developer of PowerWorld Simulator, a co-founder of PowerWorld Corporation, and an author of a widely used Power System Analysis and Design book. He was also the recipient of a University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering Distinguished Achievement Award, the IEEE Power and Energy Society Outstanding Power Engineering Educator Award and is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering. Dr. Overbye has extensive experience in many aspects of electric power systems, including participating in or leading numerous large-scale electric grid studies.
Past Webinars
September 3, 2025: All About Power Flow Alternative Solutions Including How to Avoid Them Link to the Slides
January 22, 2025: High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) E3 Impacts on Large-Scale Electric Grids Link to the slides