SBIR Phase II: Development and Commercialization of a Real-Time Visualization Tool for the Energy Industry

Powerworld Corporation, Champaign IL

Investigators

Abstract

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to develop a new software tool for viewing real-time electrical data for the energy industry. The purpose of this project is to allow an advanced visualization environment to be used with real-time power system data as input. Existing product will be decoupled from off-line power flow cases and generalize the visualization links so that any real-time database can be linked to the visualization objects. The end result will be a software product that will allow any user with secure access to view real-time power system data from any Windows PC with a TCP/IP connection to the Internet. The market for this product will be all electrical utilities, independent system operators, and regional transmission organizations in the world since they all must have an energy management system (EMS) installed in their control center. EMS systems have the ability to display real-time power system data obtained from meters installed throughout the electrical grid and sent in real-time to the control center. However this data has been essentially trapped in the control center with no way for company employees in other locations to visualize in real time what is happening on the system. Typically a report on real-time system information necessitates a telephone call to an EMS operator. When implemented this system should generate savings for the power companies which in turn will be passed on to the consumer.