Outages Phase

The Outages phase applies or reverts scheduled outages to a Snapshot case based on its time or duration window. Outage data can be supplied through AUX files or PowerWorld Outage CSV files. This phase is typically the first modification step after the Seed Case is loaded.

Configuration Options

• Set-up — File or folder of AUX scripts to run at the start of the phase.
• Clean-up — File or folder of AUX scripts to run at the end of the phase.
• Definitions — Path to AUX or CSV files containing outage definitions.

Actions

The Outages phase can perform several different actions, which can be enabled or disabled independently:

• Revert Outages — Uses the Seed Case timestamp to identify any outages that were active at that time and reverses them.
• Apply Outages — Inserts outages active at the Snapshot time or within its duration window.
• Try Hard — Iteratively applies outages in groups (e.g., by substation) and solves at each step to move the case toward a solved state with all outages applied.
• Require Outages — If enabled, the Snapshot will fail if the case cannot solve with outages applied.

Filters

Filters allow finer control over which outages are processed:

• Filter Buffer — If enabled, retains only outages within a buffer window around the Snapshot time (user-specified hours before and after).
• Remove Filter — Deletes any outages matching the filter immediately after definitions are loaded.
• Revert Filter — Restricts which outages are reverted if Revert Outages is enabled.
• Outage Filter — Restricts which outages are applied if Apply Outages is enabled.

Phase Operation

1. Run any Set-up AUX files.
2. Load outage definitions from AUX or CSV.
3. Apply Remove Filter (if specified) to prune the list of Scheduled Actions.
4. Perform Revert Outages (if enabled) to clean up any outages that may have been active in the Seed Case.
5. Apply Filter Buffer (if enabled) to leave only Scheduled Actions active during or near the specific Snapshot being generated.
6. Perform Apply Outages (if enabled).
   1. If the case solves with Outages applied, proceed.
   2. Otherwise, if "Try Hard" is enabled, attempt to get a solved state through iterative batch application of Outages.
   3. If the case still does not solve, "Require Outages" determines if processing proceeds without Outages applied, or halts.
7. Run any Clean-up AUX files.