February Study Session

Question 1

What are peak hours?

Answer 1

0700 - 2200

Question 2

What are spinning reserves?

Answer 2

Generator is already online and not fully loaded.

Question 3

What are non-spinning reserves?

Answer 3

Generators that are offline that can come on within 10 minutes.

Question 4

How long do you have to recover from a DCS event?

Answer 4

15 minutes

Question 5

Can you count firm load as a reserve?

Answer 5

You can, but you’d only count it as an operating reserve during an EEA 3 condition.

If you do count it, you count it as non spinning reserves.

Question 6

Can interruptible load be counted as a reserve?

Answer 6

Yes, but only in an EEA 2 situation. Usually takes about half an hour to implement though.

Question 7

What are the three operating modes for AGC?

Answer 7

Tie line bias
Flat frequency
Flat tie line

Question 8

When should the AGC be in Flat Frequency

Answer 8

When you are islanded.

Question 9

When should you use Flat Tie Line?

Answer 9

When you don’t have a frequency source.

Question 10

What piece of equipment is giving you a frequency reading at a power plant?

Answer 10

Potential Transformers

Question 11

What is CPS 1 requirement?

Answer 11

100 or more.

Question 12

What is BAAL compliance?

Answer 12

It is the boundary of your BAAL threshold. I can not exceed BAAL over 30 consecutive minutes.

Question 13

Is under frequency load shedding required to be coordinated?

Answer 13

Yes, coordinate with the RC.

Question 14

What equipment is most likely to be damaged during low frequency?

Answer 14

Generators

Question 15

Impedance based relay systems like Zone 1 or Zone 2, how far does Zone 1 reach and is there a time delay?

Answer 15

80%, no time delay

Question 16

Impedance based relay systems like Zone 1 or Zone 2, how far does Zone 2 reach and is there a time delay?

Answer 16

100%-120%, time delay

Question 17

Difference between static and dynamic devices?

Answer 17

Static: devices that are switchable (eg. reactors and capacitors

Dynamic: anything that is immediately responsive to changes in voltage (eg. synchronous condensers, static var compensators, generators that have automatic voltage regulators)

Question 18

Ohm’s Law

Answer 18

V=IR

V = Voltage
I = Current
R = Resistance

Question 19

What’s the difference between an SOL and IROL?

Answer 19

SOL: System Operating Limit; defined for all equipment on a system. Established by TO

IROL: Interconnection Reliability Operating Limits; A system operating limit that if it should occur, could cause voltage collapse or cascading outages on adjacent systems. Established by RC.

Question 20

How long do you have to get within IROL?

Answer 20

30 minutes

Question 21

Where do you typically see line reactors and why?

Answer 21

High voltage lines; Ferrani Voltage Rise

Transmission lines naturally have inductive reactants, capacitive reactants and resistance.

Needs a switchable reactive device to help.

Question 22

What are phase shifting transformers for?

Answer 22

Controlling power flow

Question 23

What is RCIS?

Answer 23

Reliability Coordinator Information System

Question 24

What is the State Estimator?

Answer 24

Mathematical calculation of what your power system is doing. Used in RTCA (Real Time Contingency Analysis)

Question 25

How often does the State Estimator have to run?

Answer 25

Once every 30 minutes.

(Usually runs every 3-5 minutes but the requirement is once every 30 minutes)

Question 26

How often do you have to train on your restoration plan?

Answer 26

Once a year or whenever it changes.

Question 27

Who approves the restoration plan?

Answer 27

The RC.