Large-Scale Electric System Research Center at Texas A&M – Description & Associated Research Activities

Abstract

This paper discusses the Large-Scale Electric System Research Center at Texas A&M (“Center”). The Center has been configured to provide deep insights into performance of the entire electric system, from the retail customer interface to the operation of the three main interconnections in North America. The Center has three main missions - 1) support research into electric system planning, operations and performance, 2) serve as an education platform to support university courses and industry short courses, and 3) provide a comprehensive platform for the industry to perform commissioned studies and analysis. The paper describes the systems and equipment at the Center used to support on-going research. The paper also describes select recent research to better inform the reader of the Center's overall capabilities in grid modernization, grid resiliency, sustainability, GMD impacts, human factors, visualization and synthetic grids.