Real-time reliability tools provide grid operators with accurate information on current operating conditions in order to inform timely corrective actions when they are needed to maintain or restore reliable operations. In 2005, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) was tasked to support the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Real-Time Tools Best Practices Task Force (RTBPTF) in identifying the best practices for real-time reliability tools used to build and maintain real-time network models, perform state estimation and contingency analysis, and maintain situational awareness in accordance with NERC Reliability Standards. The task force was also instructed to develop guidelines for minimally acceptable capabilities for these critical reliability tools and to recommend specific requirements to be included in reliability standards for these tools.
In 2012, LBNL was tasked to support the Western Interstate Energy Board (WIEB) and the State and Provincial Steering Committee (SPSC) in understanding why recommendations identified by FERC and NERC for real-time operation and management have not been implemented universally in the West and how state utility regulators, the governing boards of consumer-owned utilities, and the leadership of Power Marketing Administrations (PMAs) can help ensure implementation of these recommendations going forward.
