Transmission Planning Construction Outage Study Automation

By Stew Nunn and Bill RobertsonTransmission Planning,

Planning and Engineering

4.8.15 Best Practices Workshop Stew Nunn and Bill Robertson 2

Western Interconnection• A gigantic electrical machine• Serves electricity to 78 million

people• Peak power use 152,000 MW

Southwest Outage 9/8/20116 Million Customers Without Power

Work BackwardsUnderstand WECC

Requirements

Identify Alternatives

Hire and Train 10 new engineers

Automate Processes

Decision

Describe Desired Outcome

DeriveBetter Practices

EnhanceCurrent Practices

CreateNew Practices

UsePotential Practices

Innovate

Paths to Innovation

High Performance Computing

User Input

Multiple Scenarios

Program to Split Up Inputs

CPU 1

CPU 2

CPU 80

Program to Reassemble

Outputs

50X Performance Increase

Development Best Practices

• Work Backwards!• Define Application Boundaries• Eat Your Own Dog Food!

Desired Outcome

Unfinished Features

Daily Comunication

Working Software

Real-Time Programming

Summary

• Collaboration fuels successful innovation• Operational Excellence is transformational• Management’s trust makes it possible

Questions?