Matches generation with demand in Southern Company and around the country.
Responsible for integrity of the system
Looks for Economic dispatch to control cost
Major concerns are:
line loading
overload
frequency control 60Hz
meeting North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) guidelines
 
Responsible for Planning
Planning ahead for 2 hrs – various planning horizons
Follow NERC guidelines for buying and selling power
Contractual guidelines
Contracted Sales – eg to California
Familiar with spinup times and the characteristics of individual plants
As an example, nuclear facilities are very slow to come up or spin down
 

Transmission System issues
Training simulator in control center introduce problems
Talk about solutions
Each has workstation

An Example:
Quarterly forecasts – drought may decrease reliance on hydro, what other resources could they use?

Scenarios may be introduced for:
problems
corrective actions
consequences of actions – consequences may be good in short term bad in long term

Transmission and Generation concerns
Lines out or units are down – big problems
Concerns pertaining to hydro
Considers cost of asking hydro to generate. The costs might be
$50 today vs $150 tomorrow
Alabama – desk for hydro 28 dams in S.E.