2027 Event Agenda

Utilities across North America are interconnecting a rapidly growing fleet of transmission-connected inverter-based resources (IBRs) and large computational loads. Each is studied and required to meet specific performance requirements—voltage and frequency ride-through, ramp rate limits, and harmonic emission limits as a condition of interconnection. Yet establishing these requirements during the study process and verifying them at commissioning is only the first step. Firmware updates, control parameter changes, equipment degradation, and evolving grid conditions can cause a facility's behavior to drift from its studied and commissioned performance, often without any notification to the system operator. Real-world events, including the 2024 ERCOT ~23 Hz large-load oscillation traced to outdated firmware, illustrate disturbance modes invisible to traditional tools, such as SCADA.

This panel brings together utility and system integrator perspectives to examine how the industry can close that gap. Discussion will address why conventional SCADA telemetry is fundamentally inadequate for capturing fast IBR and large-load dynamics (from sub-synchronous oscillations and ride-through transients to harmonic and interharmonic emissions), and why synchrophasor (PMU) and streaming point-on-wave measurement are emerging as the monitoring foundation. Panelists will also explore the engineering realities of high-resolution continuous monitoring: managing terabyte-scale data volumes, applying AI-enabled streaming analytics for oscillation detection and compliance verification, and structuring practical pilot-to-fleet deployment paths. The session offers attendees a multi-stakeholder roadmap for monitoring programs that serve both compliance assurance and surveillance for emergent, unstudied phenomena.