Keeping the lights on and affordable: Adding stability to the power system
The U.S. Electric Power Grid is inherently unstable, that is, without special stability equipment like voltage regulators to maintain constant voltage and governors to maintain constant system speed, the power system would go unstable, resulting in a regional blackout.
As the power systems in the U.S. grow and become more complex, they require additional equipment and controls to ensure that the networks are stabilized.
In the 1960's, the western system became so complex that new methods to ensure stability were needed. Reclamation power engineers responded by inventing a new device to keep the lights on. Today, the device, appropriately named a Power System Stabilizer, is installed on every major power system generator throughout most of the world.
As the power system grows, Reclamation engineers must perform research and development to achieve even greater stability, and thereby maintain power system integrity. The Bureau of Reclamation is in a unique position in the western U.S. as it is the only power generating entity that has generators strung out across the entire western U.S. Further, the Grand Coulee Power Complex is the largest generation center in the U.S., and therefore is a foundation of the western power system. Any major interruption of power from Grand Coulee could impact the entire region. Regional blackouts can and do result in as much as $1,000,000,000 in lost production. More importantly, loss of power can result in traffic accidents, injuries, and deaths. Reclamation, being a government entity and having a very important role in preserving western system stability, must rely on its power system stability engineers to avoid the 4 D's associated with causing a regional blackout (death, disaster, dollars, and disgrace).
A team of Reclamation power system stability engineers, lead by Mr. J. Agee, work continuously to both maintain current stability margins and in the longer term to enhance those margins via a focused research and development program. Major efforts are aimed at enhancing methods to tune or adjust the stability equipment and improve modeling that will more accurately show the actual stability limits. Further improved diagnostics, remote monitoring, enhanced stabilizers, new digital technology, and innovative software algorithms , have and are being developed all in an effort to keep the lights burning.