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Burbank Water & Power Signs Contract with SOS, Intl. to Provide Power System Simulator; System Trains Operators Quickly and Effectively, Providing

Charlotte, NC (PRWeb) February 28, 2007 -- SOS Intl has entered into an agreement with Burbank Water & Power (BWP) to supply a Custom Power System Simulator which will analyze the BWP power system in near real-time. SOS will also provide comprehensive training and operating procedures.

Every year as the anniversary of 9/11/2001 approaches, systems operators around the country are on high alert. This held true in 2005, in the city of Burbank, CA home of NBC, CBS and ABC and all was calm, until the next day. Around 2 PM on 9/12/2005, Burbank went dark. CNN mistakenly reported a terrorist attack; from Governor Schwarzenegger on down, the government was scrambling.

The cause of all this panic was a worker in a Los Angeles Water Department substation who accidentally cut a control cable resulting in the loss of the entire station and Burbank's connection. This caused a major disturbance that broke the connections between Los Angeles, Burbank and Glendale. Burbank was unable to recover and the entire city went dark. It took Burbank operators about two hours to restart a combustion turbine, restore its ties and bring power back to the entire system.

In response, Burbank determined to be better prepared in the future by improving its "black start" and system restoration procedures. BWP had already been looking for ways to model and analyze its power system in near real-time in order to perform contingency analysis and training. The expense and time to implement traditional SCADA-based state estimators, contingency analysis programs, and training simulators were huge challenges.

Throughout the power industry, experienced systems operators are nearing retirement, which has made it imperative to seek better and quicker ways to train and develop new dispatchers.

"We chose a partner who could provide us the 24/7 reliability we need. SOS makes it possible for a new operator to experience and resolve major system problems that would otherwise occur over many years in an operator's career," explains Ron Davis, General Manager, Burbank Water & Power.

"Over the past three years we have sought to improve the quality and capability of our system operators by instituting training on Emergency Operations and NERC standards. SOS has played a major role in this by providing our dispatchers a high level of interactive web-based training. SOS has also developed an impressive power system simulation and training software that would look and behave almost exactly like the real EMS and SCADA systems actually used by the dispatchers," adds Davis.

"SOS provides utilities a way to actually test the validity of switching/operating procedures in a step by step fashion and at the same time provide instant feedback to the dispatcher in terms of the consequences of their actions. Our programs allow total flexibility to reflect individual utility system characteristics and model various emergency contingencies," explains Matthew Sadinsky, President and CEO of SOS, Intl.

This year SOS introduced its Custom Power Simulator and Custom Black Start software product on a new platform called the BRICK (Bulk Reliability in a Compact Kit). Demand for the BRICK is growing quickly as systems scramble to meet evolving NERC requirements for realistic simulations. For example, ISO-New England, the independent transmission system operator for the entire New England power system has made the SOS product a standard training tool for the operators in its six load control centers to conduct real-time joint drills for worst-case scenarios. "Our goal throughout North America is to provide support to system operations managers and trainers ensuring reliability, compliance and effective investment of training dollars," adds Sadinsky.

System Operations Success, Intl. (SOS) is a leading provider of training and consulting for the power industry. By constantly tracking, interpreting and communicating NERC requirements, SOS has become a leader in providing effective customized training and consulting services. The training programs SOS offers include classroom, self-study online modules, including sophisticated computer simulation. All are designed using the latest in adult learning and retention theories. SOS, headquartered in Charlotte, NC, has provided NERC approved continuing education to thousands of system operators across the United States and Canada since 2002, ultimately helping to ensure reliability for the North American power grid. For more information, go to: www.sosintl.com.

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