Dive Brief:
- Developers at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas have created an innovative, open-source grid management tool that brings together myriad data streams into a display known as the Macomber Map.
- The Electric Reliability Council of Texas and Southwest Power Pool both use the tool, which provides comprehensive and customizable views of power flows and constraints.
- Initial development was completed in 2007, and ERCOT has been using the grid map in training exercises since 2009; SPP began using the tool this year.
Dive Insight:
As more renewables are integrated into the grid, operators are searching for ways to track their systems and analyze real time data for better decision-making processes. ERCOT developers say they have developed such a tool to help operators to meet those goals.
"With integration of more renewable resources, changes in market design, faster synchrophase information and other changes, we understood that, for the human being, the mission was getting more complicated and complex," Mike Legatt, who worked as an ERCOT engineer on the project, said in a statement.
The Macomber Map seeks to simplify such a process by taking data streams which in the past were managed through different programs, processes or tabs, and brings them together in one visual location to help grid operators make more comprehensive decisions. Key to the program, say ERCOT developers, is the open-source nature which allows the addition of new inputs and long-term creation of a more effective system.
Three years ago, ERCOT released the code for the map to the open source community for adoption by other users, which could include governments or utilities. A second version of the code is now available, adopting some changes created from SPP's use. Legatt now serves as ERCOT’s principal human factors engineer, but he was involved in the project's early development. He said it is ongoing additions which make it a powerful tool.
The two grid operators have created a short video explaining and illustrating the map: