Toward Risk-Based Operation of Power Systems: The Impending Transformation

[Most recently, there have been significant efforts by power system operators in studying generation and transmission uncertainties in operation planning. With the increasing penetration of weather-dependent renewable generation and frequent geo-climate events, power system operators have begun to predict weather changes and preventively mitigate their impacts on power generation and transmission. Uncertainty evaluation and subsequent preventive mitigation actions have become important tasks in operating regions with significant renewable generation. Amid these efforts, artificial intelligence and machine learning are playing instrumental roles in the development of new tools. Based on a handful of public reports, this article discusses the emerging new problem of operational uncertainties for power system operators and outlines a systematic approach that involves risk evaluation and mitigation in both generation scheduling and transmission operation. It is envisioned that risk-based operation will be the new paradigm for power system security assessment.