The Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) recently announced a new reconfiguration process (MISO Cost Reconfiguration Process), making it the first regional transmission organization to enable market participants to request grid reconfigurations to reduce regional congestion. Grid reconfigurations change the flow of power on the transmission system — to reduce congestion on a targeted constraint — by opening and closing circuit breakers at substations.
Traditionally, reconfigurations are identified manually based on operator experience for reliability applications however new grid enhancing technology (GET) software for topology optimization could help. Topology optimization software can be used to find optimal reconfigurations to improve system reliability and resilience and reduce transmission congestion by leveraging flexibility across the transmission system, according to a press release issued by the Watt Coalition. Applications of topology optimization by NewGrid Inc. found 40% average congestion cost savings in a study with Alliant Energy in MISO, said the coalition.
“Congestion impacts both renewable projects, making their integration harder and more expensive, and ratepayers, who pay higher energy costs because of congestion on the grid,” Rodica Donaldson, Vice President of Transmission Analytics for EDF Renewables North America, said. “Many transmission constraints can be fully or partially relieved with the flip of a switch.”
