Shaping the Future Grid: My Summer at WECC's Reliability Modeling Team
Vicky Zhang, MS '24 Civil and Environmental Engineering
Gradute Fellow, Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC)
This summer, I had the incredible opportunity to work with the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) as part of their Reliability Modeling team. WECC plays a crucial role in ensuring a reliable and secure electricity grid across the Western Interconnection, spanning from Mexico to Canada. The Reliability Modeling team is part of the Reliability Assessments and Modeling (RAM) organization. The RAM team’s core business is around performing reliability assessments and building models, both essential to maintaining grid stability. My role in this fellowship focused on developing generic data needed to represent future solar and wind generators in WECC’s transient stability models and assisting with base-case technical problems. These models are important for simulating and planning the future energy grid, accounting for generators that haven’t been built yet but will play a significant role in our transition to renewable energy.
When I first imagined this internship, I expected to be deeply involved in technical work, focusing on data analysis and model development. While these aspects were certainly a significant part of my experience, what I didn’t anticipate was how much I would grow professionally and personally through exposure to the broader energy sector. Weekly team meetings provided insight into base cases, production costs, and considerations for maintaining grid reliability. These discussions helped me understand the energy industry beyond just the technical aspects, highlighting the interconnectedness of policy, economics, and engineering.
One of my key contributions this summer was developing and refining generic data sets that enable WECC’s transient stability models to accurately simulate the behavior of renewable energy generators, specifically solar, wind, and combined solar-wind systems. This work supports WECC’s mission of building models and simulations that are critical for predicting how the grid will respond to different scenarios as more solar and wind power come online.
As I consider how this experience will affect my future career plans and academic objectives, I've realized my interest in pursuing a career that balances technical innovation with the practical realities of energy systems. Academically, I’m more motivated than ever to deepen my understanding of power systems and pursue advanced studies in this area. The experience has also taught me the importance of collaboration and continuous learning in a rapidly evolving field like energy.
By working directly with power flow models, I was able to improve my technical skills. More importantly, I learned to approach complex problems from multiple angles and discovered that I can contribute to meaningful work that has a real-world impact.
In conclusion, my summer at WECC has been an incredible experience. I’ve gained practical technical skills, broadened my understanding of the energy sector, and clarified my future career path. This internship has not only prepared me for the challenges ahead but also inspired me to continue working towards a more sustainable and reliable energy future.
