System Restoration

System Restoration is a six-hour, five-module online program in which students learn the objectives and eight basic steps of developing a restoration plan. Students learn generator start up characteristics, principles of power and frequency balancing and voltage and MVAR control that are critical for safe and reliable restoration.

Students are guided through a series of simulated operating exercises with various levels of difficulty. At first they will observe and record system conditions and implement specfic operating orders to restore the system. Later they will develop and implement their own restoration plans, applying critical thinking skills to analyze current operating conditions, set priorities for equipment to be restored, analyze and implement control options, observe the system response in real-time and adjust the operating tactics.

Students implement restoration plans with detailed operating orders then observe and record the simulator results and explain why the system is in the current state. Students will also observe the effects of mistakes that cause excessive frequency deviations that cause generator trips and voltage violations that cause the system to shutdown.  

This is a six -hour online program with an online post test and five sets of Simulator Exercises. The five modules are:

SR-701 Restoration Planning: Eight phases of a restoration plan including: assessment of current power system conditions, preparation of the subsystems, dead bus clearing, creation of one or more restoration building blocks, expansion of electrical islands, combination of electrical islands into larger islands, re-integration with neighboring utility systems and restoration of customer load in accordance with load priority.

SR-702 Generator Startup Characteristics: Start up parameters for the generating units including: black start capability, maximum generating capacity, minimum load level, maximum down time for a hot start of drum units, minimum down time for hot start of once through units, unit auxiliary power requirements, time from light-off to turbine roll, time from turbine roll to synchronization, maximum ramp rate. 

SR-703 Power and Frequency Balancing: Mechanisms for control of frequency including: system inertia, turbines, governing control systems and the droop characteristic, safe operating regions for turbines. 

SR-704 Voltage and MVAR Control: Principles and design issues affecting the balance between voltage and MVARs under restoration conditions including: charging characteristics of lightly loaded lines and cables, Ferranti rise, strong and weak source buses, voltage changes on weak source buses, reactive capability of generating units and operation of transformer taps. 

SR-705 Transmission Restoration Exercise: Using a PowerSimulator restoration exercise the student will participate in planning the restoration, observing the effects of load on frequency during the restoration process, implementing the concepts on “looping back” for stability and dealing with the additional complexity of switching on a system that does not allow an energized line breaker to be closed into dead bus.