Situation awareness in power systems: Theory, challenges and applications

Due to the increasing size and operational complexity of modern power systems, transmission system operators often have difficulties forming a complete and accurate picture of the state of the part of the system for which they are responsible. These difficulties may prevent them from achieving the level of situation awareness (SA) that they need to make the right decisions and respond effectively to an incident. Inadequate SA has indeed been identified as one of the contributing factors in several recent large electrical disturbances worldwide. This paper first reviews the fundamentals of SA and then discusses the main sources of operator errors due to insufficient SA in power systems and how these affect the operational decision-making process. It then discusses tools and standards that can help system operators improve their level of SA. Finally, a generic procedure for achieving sufficient SA is presented, which aims to guide the design of an information system that is both technology- and user-oriented.