Power System Data Analytics

The volume, velocity, and variety of data being created by the power system has dramatically increased. Smart Grid investments have deployed millions of new sensors, meters, and other tools for monitoring the power system. 

The electrical system has new sources of uncertainty and is far more complex, and maintaining reliability requires the use of data to understand where we are, and where we are headed. Traditional methods of data acquisition, labeling, use, and storage in utilities are insufficient to meet the growing need for actionable information from data.

Data points from sensors without context have less value – power system sensor data is raw and unfiltered and requires data cleaning, pairing it with time synchronized contextual data, and analytics – to create information that has structure and is actionable and purposeful.

To unlock the full potential value of these new data sources, better standards and tools for data processing, analysis, and visualization are needed to help meet the needs of a rapidly evolving energy system. Tools that support real-time decision making are needed to collect measurements, process them, and display the results to the operator. 

The Office of Electricity’s investments enable timely diagnosis, prediction, and prescription of system variables and assets, during normal and extreme-event conditions, to support national security and national public health and safety. Specific areas of focus include:

  • Enhanced System Resilience and Control:Demonstrations of analytic tools that improve distribution system visibility and control to meet changes in load and integrate DER 
  • Data Integration and Event Detection: Data analytics that detect and diagnose system health for proactive resilience and address critical infrastructure interdependencies.
  • Sensor Valuation, Validation and Standards: Improve system visibility at the source, with better sensor placement and improved data acquisition platforms, standards and tools for data interoperability, consistency and validity.

The following are additional resources for electricity data developed by DOE:

Sources of Power System Data

Related Projects