Today’s LiveWire Spotlight examines NERC’s 2021 Situational Awareness Webinars, the latest NERC-sponsored annual assembly assessing the role of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and Energy Management Systems (EMS) in BES reliability. This year’s event (the ninth since its inception in 2013) was held online in three two-hour sessions. The theme: The new normal in EMS.
- Session 1 dealt with current trends in Control Center situational awareness availability – which two studies show have generally improved over the last year – although progress is slowing.
- Session 2 presenters communicated the EMS-related challenges facing Balancing Authorities and Transmission Operators as they deal with large scale inverter-based resource integration.
- Session 3’s theme was “Technique and Workforce Challenges” which addressed growing data handling and expertise challenges that increased system variability is sure to introduce.
NERC’s 2021 Situational Awareness Webinars provided some encouraging developments in the effort to assure a reliable green grid, but the challenges facing the industry cannot be overstated. Clients should take heed – as EMS performance expectations are only growing.