This page answers some common questions about PowerWorld
products, including product features, sales information and available
analysis modules. If you don't find what you're looking for on
this page, please see Support FAQ, or
contact us at info@powerworld.com.
Product Feature FAQ
System Diagram FAQ
Sales and Support FAQ
What is PowerWorld
Simulator?
PowerWorld Simulator is an innovative power system analysis package, designed
from the ground up to be extremely user-friendly and
interactive. Simulator's most distinguishing feature is its
innovative use of graphics and visualization, including animated flows and color
contours, to take a lot of the drudgery and mystery out of power
system analysis. Simulator runs on Microsoft Windows
XP/Vista/7.
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What are some of the potential uses of PowerWorld Simulator?
See also: Potential Uses
Simulator has a number of uses in the corporate environment. Some
of these include
Helping to make better informed business decisions concerning the
transmission system - Give your marketers and other users an insight
into the transmission system. Transmission bottlenecks are a costly
but increasingly common part of doing business in the electricity
market. By providing a full-featured power flow package, Simulator can
take some of the mystery out of the transmission system, helping you
make better informed business decisions.
Economic Analysis - Using Simulator's Optimal Power Flow (OPF),
OPF Reserves and
Security Constrained OPF (SCOPF), you can model electricity markets
that utilize spot-pricing methodologies such as Locational Marginal
Pricing (LMP) markets. With Simulator OPF, OPF Reserves, and SCOPF and
accurate model inputs such as constraints and contingencies, generator
bids, and loads, you can replicate the dispatch and price
calculations from these markets
In-house education - Quickly provide non-technical or new employees
with the power system basics and an understanding of many of the
issues involved in industry restructuring.
Customer education - Effectively show your customers the issues
involved in providing them competitive power.
Executive presentations - Clearly present many power system
concepts using eye-catching graphics. Simulator's displays were
designed to look good in presentations, and can be easily customized.
Simulator has been recently used in a number of presentations to the
U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (which is now a PowerWorld
customer) and a number of state commissions.
Operations - Increase your knowledge of your system's operation.
Many utilities will find Simulator to be a low-cost power flow that
could be used in their operations and planning departments.
Power Flow Analysis - Simulator provides all the tools you need to
perform advanced power flow analysis such as transmission system
impact studies for a new generating station. This includes contingency
analysis, Available Transfer Capability (ATC) studies,
PV and QV Curve
Studies (PVQV), Fault Analysis, and area interchange. Write your own
code - Simulator's SimAuto add-on provides the ability to directly
link Simulator's solution engines with your own software. As long as
your development language supports the COM interface (or the newer
.NET technology), you'll be able to communicate directly with
Simulator.
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What power flow algorithm does it use?
Simulator uses a full Newton-Raphson algorithm, with non-divergence
control. Simulator can solve power systems with up to 100,000 buses,
and an almost unlimited number of lines. Simulator has been used to
solve FERC 715 cases for all of the NERC (North American Electric
Reliability Council) regions. The largest cases we've seen so far have
been 65,000 buses cases developed by combining the Eastern
Interconnect, Western Interconnect and ERCOT systems in the United
States into one large case. PowerWorld Simulator offers the user the
Decoupled Power Flow and the DC power flow as solution options as well
as a "Robust Solution Process," which iterates between the
various solution options in an attempt to solve very ill-conditioned
cases.
The power flow algorithm incorporates common controls used in power
flow analysis, including remote voltage regulation by LTCs,
generators, and switched shunts, shared voltage regulation by
generators, phase-shifting transformer control, DC line modeling, and
Multi-Terminal DC Line Modeling.
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Can
I simulate electricity markets with Simulator?
Simulator
is an ideal tool to analyze electricity markets. Based on generator
bids, load benefit curves and full modeling of the transmission grid,
Simulator OPF/SCOPF allows you to determine security-constrained LMPs
at every bus in the system, and thus determine how much the market
agents will have to pay or be paid in the market. Simulator will allow
you to minimize system operating cost, to enforce security constraints,
and to determine the effect of congestion and re-dispatch. You can use
Simulator to determine, reproduce and forecast marginal prices, which
will help you design the best strategy to operate your assets in the
market. Using Simulator Time Step Simulation tool, you can obtain the
system optimal dispatch and LMPs for a number of hours, and see how
prices change with demand or system conditions. Furthermore, you can
visualize LMPs on your oneline diagrams and obtain great insight about
the spatial behavior of marginal prices, congested paths and even detect
market power.
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How fast does it solve the power flow equations?
Simulator's computational speed is on par with other high
performance power flows that we've tested. To give you a feel for its
speed, using a 266 MHz Pentium II computer on the 23,458 bus SERC FERC
715 case, Simulator takes 12.6 seconds and five iterations to solve
the case when the first line in the case is opened (introducing a
mismatch of over 1300 MW). For the smaller Florida FERC 715 case, with
3585 buses, Simulator takes 1.2 seconds and four iterations to solve
the mismatches caused by opening the first line in that case.
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I'm new to power system analysis and do not yet own a power
flow. Why should I buy yours?
For most people Simulator is the clear choice both because of its
user-friendly and highly graphical design, and its price. Our
customers are usually amazed at how easy Simulator is to use.
PowerWorld is the industry leader in power system visualization, which
greatly enhances the speed with which you perform your analysis, and
also when presenting your results to others. After adding the various
add-on available with Simulator (OPF,
OPF Reserves,
SCOPF,
ATC,
PVQV, and
SimAuto),
you'll have the features you need to perform serious steady-state
engineering analysis!
In all honesty we do want you to know that Simulator cannot solve
every power system problem. What we've done is provide the features
that will completely meet the needs of most users. And in doing so
kept the price very reasonable. For highly specialized uses, such as
transient stability, PowerWorld Corporation does not presently provide
a solution. You'll need to supplement Simulator with other programs in
these situations.
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I already own a power flow program. Why should I buy yours?
Obviously if you're already satisfied with the usability,
capability, and upgrade prices of your current package, and you seldom
have to present your results to others, then you probably won't need
to buy Simulator. But if not, we believe you should seriously consider
Simulator. We've had a number of customers, including some of the
largest utilities in the U.S. and a NERC reliability region, buy
Simulator to supplement their existing power flows. What has
consistently sold people is the innovative graphics, the user-friendly
design and the low price.
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Is Simulator compatible with my existing power flow cases?
Probably. Simulator provides import/export capability to the some
of the most common power flow formats, including those used with the
U.S. FERC 715 cases or the cases commonly obtained from the
reliability councils or electricity market organizations. Therefore in
all likelihood you can directly load your power flow data into
Simulator.
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What advanced analysis modules
are available?
Contingency Analysis - Automatically run through a list of
thousands of contingencies and create a list of system overloads and voltage
problems encountered during the contingencies. Also compare the results of
two contingencies runs.
Unbalanced Fault Analysis - Determine the A, B, and C phase
currents and voltages after a fault in the system. Includes support
for all unbalanced fault types as well as mutual impedances and fault
impedances.
Sensitivity Calculations - Determine the linear sensitivity of line
flows and voltages to power injections, transfers or line
outages/insertions. This includes the calculation of Power Transfer
Distribution Factors (PTDFs), Line Outage Distribution Factors (LODFs),
Transmission Loading Relief Sensitivities (TLRs), and Generation Shift
Factors (GSFs). You can also calculate Loss Sensitivities using the
sensitivity tools.
Optimal Power Flow (OPF) - Optimally dispatch your system to remove
transmission line overloads, while also calculating spot prices (also
known as locational marginal prices). OPF is the best-selling add-on to
Simulator.
Optimal Power Flow Reserves (OPF Reserves) -
Optimally dispatch your system while
meeting control area and zonal requirements for regulating, operating, and contingency reserves. OPF Reserves co-optimizes the
production of energy and the supply of reserves. OPF Reserves is available
as an add-on to Simulator.
Security Constrained Optimal Power Flow (SCOPF) - Optimally
dispatch your system to remove transmission line overloads under the
base case and under any contingency, while also calculating spot
prices (also known as locational marginal prices). SCOPF is available
as an add-on to Simulator.
Available Transfer Capability Tool (ATC) - Calculate ATC values in
seconds using linear analysis techniques. ATC is available as an
add-on to Simulator.
PV and QV Curves Tool (PVQV) - Study voltage stability problems in
your system using PVQV. PVQV is available as an add-on to Simulator.
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What are some of the other features of Simulator?
In addition to the power flow and visualization capabilities
discussed earlier, Simulator has a number of other features. These
include customizable and sortable list displays to view all or a
subset of the various devices in the system (such as buses,
generators, transmission lines, dc lines, switched shunts, areas and
zones), the ability to easy scale the load or generation, the ability
to create electrical equivalents, the ability to do economic dispatch
for any area, the ability to graphically compare two different cases,
the ability to compare the topology of two different cases, the
ability to generate and graphically show PTDFs, the ability to
graphically create or modify a case, and much, much more. Every year
Simulator adds more and more features that make doing your job easier.
We like to emphasize Simulator's automatic generation control (AGC)
features. Simulator allows you to dispatch areas using four different
methods: Area Slack Control, Participation Factor Control (all
generators participate proportional to their participation factors),
Economic Dispatch, and OPF. This makes it easy for you to set up
transfers between the areas in your case. Also, Simulator offers you
the ability to create a "Super Area" and then dispatch a
group of areas together, representing a power pool. If you don't want
to dispatch by area, Simulator also allows you to perform
participation factor control across each electrical islands as well.
Because of Simulator's ease of use, you can also utilize Simulator
directly in your presentations. This feature makes Simulator an
excellent training and demonstration tool.
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Can
I solve a Real-Time power flow in PowerWorld Retriever?
Yes. The data that is
imported from the real-time sources can be substituted for the
underlying system data to solve a real-time power flow in
PowerWorld Retriever,
provided that:
-
a complete system model
with all required object fields necessary to run a power flow
solution is provided (see case validation), and
-
The underlying model
fields (when combined with the imported real-time data) are well
conditioned for a solution
Although Retriever does not
require a system model capable of being solved in order for it to
perform its function of importing and displaying real-time data, it
comes standard with both Edit and Run modes (in addition to Real-Time
mode). Edit mode allows the user to edit the underlying model
parameters and to develop and make changes to system diagrams. Run
Mode allows for system simulation and power flow analysis.
When
a case is first opened in Retriever, the software automatically
validates the case. Case validation does not guarantee that a
system will solve, but it does check to ensure that all required power
system elements are present to attempt a solution.
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Are the diagrams easy to
build?
We think so! We've gone to great lengths to make it easy to build diagrams. Features such as the ability to automatically
insert display objects (buses, generators, transmission lines,
etc...), the ability to "anchor"
objects to buses and lines (when an object is "anchored" to either a bus or a
line, moving the bus or line on the one-line causes all the objects
anchored to the object to be moved as well; this feature makes it
quite easy to rearrange a one-line), and the ability to select and
format multiple objects simultaneously make it easy to build and modify the
diagrams. We have also included the ability
to import one-lines saved in a common power flow one-line drawing
format.
Also, if you have geographic information regarding the location of
the buses in your system, you can automatically insert the buses at
the prescribed locations. Then just use Simulator's built-in features
to automatically insert lines, generators, and loads to create the
rest of the one-line.
We also provide diagram development services for a very reasonable fee.
Contact us at info@powerworld.com
for more information.
Finally, Energy
Visuals (a sister company of PowerWorld Corporation) develops and
markets the product Transmission Atlas. Transmission Atlas provides
very large one-line diagrams built from common models such as the WECC,
ERCOT and NERC MMWG models of the United States. Also available are
PJM network models from the PJM OASIS. These one-lines
include all buses, substations, transmission lines, generators, and
loads in the full models.
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How do I get animated flows on the one-lines? Can they be
customized?
Once the one-line diagrams have been built, you only need to toggle
a field value (which is actually set "on" by default). Yes,
the animated flows are easily customized. Customization includes there
size, color, shape, whether they move or not, and their density. You
can also show MW, Mvar, PTDF, or combiniations of these simultaneously
on a one-line.
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Are zooming and panning supported on the one-lines?
Yes, you can easily zoom and/or pan the one-lines. Also, objects on
the one-line can be set so that they are only visible at certain zoom
levels. This allows you to zoom into a portion of the one-line and
show successively more detail as you zoom in. A find command is also
available to allow you to easily locate a particular bus on the
one-line.
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What are contours? How can I use
them?
Simulator has the ability to contour the system parameters on the
one-line diagram. The output of the contouring is a plot very similar
to the temperature contours seen in the newspaper, except a system
parameter, not temperature, is being contoured. This feature can be
extremely useful for rapidly assessing power system conditions in a
large region. For example we have one client that has a contour of
more than 4000 bus voltages which is updated from real-time data
approximately every minute. Using this one-line in conjunction with
our OPF add-on, you can use contouring to show price profiles
throughout the U.S.
See our Features page for an example
contour of marginal bus prices.
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Can the Simulator displays be pasted into other programs, such
as PowerPoint? What other presentation features are offered?
Yes. The one-line diagram contains a local-menu with a command to
copy the display into the Window's clipboard. From there you can paste
it just about anywhere, including into a word processing or
presentation program. You can also use the Print Screen option,
which is standard in Windows operating systems, to produce image files
of screen shots.
Other presentation features include
a web publishing tool and a movie maker
tool.
Simulator presents several tools for saving a
variety of data in a web-friendly format. You can save images as jpeg files,
and all case information displays can be saved as HTML tables. You can then
integrate these files into a single web document using the PowerWorld HTML
editor, which is included with all versions of Simulator and Retriever.
Finally, you can upload the HTML document, together with any necessary
attachments, to your web server.
Use the movie maker tool to create mpeg or avi movies (playable on any standard media player)
to present simulation results to an audience.
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What is PowerWorld Viewer?
PowerWorld Viewer is a free software
package that we developed so that our customers could provide their
results from Simulator to whomever they wish. As the name implies,
Viewer allows users to view a case with all the ease of Simulator,
including all the animation features. However users of Viewer can not
modify the case in any way. You can download a
free version of Viewer, capable of viewing systems with up to
100,000 buses.
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How many other customers do you have?
As of August 2008 we have over 540 customers worldwide in 62 countries. Our customers include the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), some of the largest utilities in
the world including the Electric Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT),
the Israel Electric Corporation Ltd, ESB National Grid in Ireland,
GENER S.A. in Chile, the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA),
Commonwealth Edison, and Carolina Power and Light; Northeast Power
Coordinating Council and Southwest Power Pool (NERC
reliability regions); several Independent System Operators (ISOs); the U.S. Department of Energy; the U.S.
Justice Department; several state regulatory agencies; numerous consultants, power marketers,
and power traders; and universities worldwide.
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Is on-line help available?
Of course! Simulator comes with comprehensive on-line help, as well
as a 500+ page fully indexed manual and a reference for the Auxiliary
File Scripting language. All help materials usually ship with the software,
but they are also available for download.
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What types of training and technical support
are available?
One of the advantages of Simulator is that you can get up and
running with a minimum of training. Formal training, however, is very useful
in expanding your proficiency with Simulator's tools and increasing
your productivity. We offer regular training courses at our office in Champaign, Illinois
(USA). For more information on
training see our Training Page or Training
Calendar.
PowerWorld Corporation can
also provide custom software training, tailored to your interests and
availability, delivered at your site.
Please contact us at
+1 (217) 384-6330 or info@powerworld.com
for more information.
We also offer free on-line training modules
for the introductory topics. The modules are indexed Flash
productions that may be viewed at your convenience.
Also, please note that every license comes with
free technical support, available by phone at +1 (217) 384-6330 or email at support@powerworld.com.
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How much does it cost? What about upgrades?
Commercial Version - Please see our Pricing Page
for details. Software licenses include upgrades and
support for one year. Additional licenses are available at a
substantial discount.
Commercial Upgrades and Support -Future upgrades are available for an
annual license renewal of 20% of the current list price. The
license includes full customer support as well as all upgrades and
software patches released for one year from the time of renewal.
Education Version - Educational versions of all products are
available for use at universities by faculty, staff, and students
for teaching and academic research. Contact PowerWorld
Corporation at
sales@powerworld.com or by phone at (217) 384-6330 for more
information.
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Are demo/evaluation versions
available?
Yes, you can download an
evaluation version of Simulator (limited to a maximum of 12 buses)
that includes ATC, PVQV, OPF and SCOPF add-ons. Our free PowerWorld Viewer package
contains most of the Simulator visualization capabilities and is capable of
displaying systems containing up to 100,000 buses.
We can also
make evaluation versions of the full Simulator
package available on a case-by-case basis. Please contact
us for more information on this option.
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How do I order?
You can place a credit card order by calling +1 (217) 384-6330.
Or you can send a Purchase Order via mail to:
PowerWorld Corporation
2001 South First Street
Champaign, IL 61820
or via fax to +1 (217) 384-6329
You may
also contact us by email at sales@powerworld.com.
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