Methods for assessing reliability of a utility company's power system

1. A method, comprising:

rubber-banding selected geographic areas-of-interest from an electronic display, wherein low and high voltage conditions of the selected geographic areas-of-interest are desired to be managed using volt ampere reactive (VAR) reserves available;

determining, by a system comprising a processor, locations and amounts of the VAR reserves available in a power generating system within the selected rubber-banded geographic area, the locations and amounts of VAR reserves available being for generation units, capacitor banks, reactor banks, and static VAR systems of the power generating system; and

generating at least one user interface that includes the selected rubber-banded geographic areas-of-interest, the interface comprising elements indicating the locations and the amounts of the VAR reserves available in the power generating system;

wherein the selected rubber-banded geographic areas-of-interest are presented at the user interface as a background layer representing the physical geography of the area-of-interest and wherein the amounts of VAR reserves are superimposed over the background layer.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the amounts of the VAR reserves comprises determining an amount of VAR reserves available in the power generating system for a generation unit, and

wherein the determining the amount of the VAR reserves for the generation unit comprises determining an injection reactive reserve of the generation unit that is a mega VAR (MVAR) maximum of the generation unit minus a MVAR output of the generation unit, and determining an absorption reactive reserve of the generation unit that is the MVAR output of the generation unit minus a MVAR minimum of the generation unit.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the amounts of the VAR reserves comprises determining an amount of VAR reserves available in the power generating system for a capacitor bank, and

wherein the determining the amount of the VAR reserves for the capacitor bank comprises determining an injection reactive reserve of the capacitor bank that is a first summation of nominal mega VAR (MVAR) of capacitors of the capacitor bank that are open or disconnected, and determining an absorption reactive reserve of the capacitor bank that is a second summation of nominal MVAR of capacitors of the capacitor bank that are closed.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the amounts of the VAR reserves comprises determining an amount of VAR reserves available in the power generating system for a reactor bank, and

wherein the determining the amount of the VAR reserves for the reactor comprises determining an injection reactive reserve of the reactor bank that is a first summation of nominal mega VAR (MVAR) of capacitors of the reactor bank that are closed, and determining an absorption reactive reserve of the reactor bank that is a second summation of nominal MVAR of capacitors of the reactor bank that are open or disconnected.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the amounts of the VAR reserves comprises determining an amount of VAR reserves available in the power generating system for a static VAR system, and

wherein the determining the amount of the VAR reserves the static VAR system comprises determining an injection reactive reserve of the static VAR system that is a mega VAR (MVAR) output of the static VAR system minus a MVAR minimum of the static VAR system, and determining an absorption reactive reserve of the static VAR system that is a MVAR maximum of the static VAR system minus a second MVAR output of the static VAR system.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the locations and the amounts of the VAR reserves available in the power generating system are determined in real-time during operation of the power generating system for generating power.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising applying highlighting to the at least one user interface on geographic areas having insufficient VAR reserves.

8. A system, comprising:

a memory that stores executable components; and

a processor, communicatively coupled to the memory, that executes or facilitates execution of the executable components to perform operations, comprising:

receiving selected rubber-banded geographic areas-of-interest, wherein low and high voltage conditions of the selected geographic areas-of-interest are desired to be managed using volt ampere reactive (VAR) reserves available;

determining locations and amounts of the VAR reserves available in a power generating system within the selected rubber-banded geographic areas-of-interest, the locations and amounts of VAR reserves available being for generation units, capacitor banks, reactor banks, and static VAR systems of the power generating system; and

generating at least one user interface that includes the selected rubber-banded geographic areas-of-interest, the interface comprising elements indicating the locations and the amounts of the VAR reserves available in the power generating system;

wherein the selected rubber-banded geographic areas-of-interest are presented at the user interface as a background layer representing the physical geography of the area-of-interest and wherein the amounts of VAR reserves are superimposed over the background layer.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the determining the amounts of VAR reserves comprises determining an amount of VAR reserves available in the power generating system for a generation unit, and

wherein the determining the amount of VAR reserves for the generation unit comprises determining an injection reactive reserve of the generation unit that is a mega VAR (MVAR) maximum of the generation unit minus a MVAR output of the generation unit, and determining an absorption reactive reserve of the generation unit that is the MVAR output of the generation unit minus a MVAR minimum of the generation unit.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the determining the amounts of VAR reserves comprises determining an amount of VAR reserves available in the power generating system for a capacitor bank, and

wherein the determining the amount of VAR reserves for the capacitor bank comprises determining an injection reactive reserve of the capacitor bank that is a first summation of nominal mega VAR (MVAR) of capacitors of the capacitor bank that are open or disconnected, and determining an absorption reactive reserve of the capacitor bank that is a second summation of nominal MVAR of capacitors of the capacitor bank that are closed.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the determining the amounts of VAR reserves comprises determining an amount of VAR reserves available in the power generating system for a reactor bank, and

wherein the determining the amount of VAR reserves for the reactor bank comprises determining an injection reactive reserve of the reactor bank that is a first summation of nominal mega VAR (MVAR) of capacitors of the reactor bank that are closed, and determining an absorption reactive reserve of the reactor bank that is a second summation of nominal MVAR of capacitors of the reactor bank that are open or disconnected.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the determining the amounts of VAR reserves comprises determining an amount of VAR reserves available in the power generating system for a static VAR system, and

wherein the determining the amount of VAR reserves for the static VAR system comprises determining an injection reactive reserve of the static VAR system that is a mega VAR (MVAR) output of the static VAR system minus a MVAR minimum of the static VAR system, and determining an absorption reactive reserve of the static VAR system that is a MVAR maximum of the static VAR system minus a second MVAR output of the static VAR system.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the locations and the amounts of the VAR reserves available in the power generating system are determined dynamically during operation of the power generating system for generating power.

14. The system of claim 8 , the operations further comprising highlighting the at least one user interface at geographic areas having insufficient VAR reserves.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution, cause a system including a processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving selected rubber-banded geographic areas-of-interest, wherein low and high voltage conditions of the selected geographic areas-of-interest are desired to be managed using volt ampere reactive (VAR) reserves available;

determining locations and amounts of the VAR reserves available in a power generating system within the selected rubber-banded geographic areas-of-interest, the locations and amounts of VAR reserves available being for generation units, capacitor banks, reactor banks, and static VAR systems of the power generating system; and

generating at least one user interface that includes the selected rubber-banded geographic areas-of-interest, the interface comprising element indicating at least one location of the locations and at least one amount of the amounts of the VAR reserves available in the power generating system;

wherein the selected rubber-banded geographic areas-of-interest are presented at the user interface as a background layer representing the physical geography of the area-of-interest and wherein the amounts of VAR reserves are superimposed over the background layer.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the determining the amounts of VAR reserves comprises determining an amount of VAR reserves available in the power generating system for a generation unit, and

wherein the determining the amount of VAR reserves for the generation unit comprises determining an injection reactive reserve of the generation unit that is a mega VAR (MVAR) maximum of the generation unit minus a MVAR output of the generation unit, and determining an absorption reactive reserve of the generation unit that is the MVAR output of the generation unit minus a MVAR minimum of the generation unit.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the determining the amounts of VAR reserves comprises determining an amount of VAR reserves available in the power generating system for a capacitor bank, and

wherein the determining the amount of VAR reserves for the capacitor bank comprises determining an injection reactive reserve of the capacitor bank that is a summation of nominal mega VAR (MVAR) of capacitors of the capacitor bank that are open or disconnected, and determining an absorption reactive reserve of the capacitor bank that is a summation of nominal MVAR of capacitors of the capacitor bank that are closed.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the determining the amounts of VAR reserves comprises determining an amount of VAR reserves available in the power generating system for a reactor bank, and

wherein the determining the amount of VAR reserves for the reactor bank comprises determining an injection reactive reserve of the reactor bank that is a summation of nominal mega VAR (MVAR) of capacitors of the reactor bank that are closed, and determining an absorption reactive reserve of the reactor bank that is a summation of nominal MVAR of capacitors of the reactor bank that are open or disconnected.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the determining the amounts of VAR reserves comprises determining an amount of VAR reserves available in the power generating system for a static VAR system, and

wherein the determining the amount of VAR reserves for a static VAR system comprises determining an injection reactive reserve of the static VAR system that is a mega VAR (MVAR) output of the static VAR system minus a MVAR minimum of the static VAR system, and determining an absorption reactive reserve of the static VAR system that is a MVAR maximum of the static VAR system minus a second MVAR output of the static VAR system.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the locations and the amounts of the VAR reserves available in the power generating system are determined on the fly during operation of the power generating system for generating power.