Challenges in Operator Training: Avoiding Blackouts in the Evolving Power Grid

The training of power grid operators took a major leap forward with the introduction of operator training simulators (OTSs) in the late 1970s, but the demands on OTS-based training have increased with the ongoing transformation of the grid. Today, blackouts occur as a result of outages that typically impact multiple transmission operators, multiple balancing authorities (BAs), and multiple reliability coordinators (RCs). Therefore, this article focuses on training that involves teams of system operators who work cooperatively in neighboring control centers. With more generation resources being placed in the distribution systems, these coordinating operators to be trained are in the distribution control centers. Blackouts used to be associated mainly with instability, uncontrolled separation, and cascading outages. This situation is changing, with blackouts now also occurring due to systemic emergencies, such as firestorms, extreme weather, hurricanes, and cyberattacks.