PowerWorld Simulator versions

v17.0 [Feb 12, 2013]
New objecttype POWERWORLDSESSION is now available that will provide access to the Simulator executable currently being used. Use variablename VERSION to return just the executable version, VERSION:1 to return a string listing the add-ons, BUSSLACK to return a string containing bus numbers and names of all system slack buses, and BUSSLACK:1 to return a string containing the system slack buses along with MW and Mvar output values and minimum and maximum limits.
Added new objecttype DEFDRAWONELINE that will allow changing the default font, option to use the default font size for all new text fields, and the default background color for oneline diagrams.
When saving out an entire case as an auxiliary file, the field “AllLabels” is included for each object type that allows labels and has some labels defined.
Can now refer to Expressions by name rather than number location of the field. Instead of using CustomExpression:location can now use “CustomExpresion:my expression name”. Using this option for expressions requires that a name be specified for the expression.
Can now refer to custom fields (integers, singles, and strings) and calculated fields by name rather than number location of the field. Instead of using variablename:location can now use variablename:name. “BGCalcField:My calculated field name” and “CustomInteger:My custom integer name” are examples. Using this option for custom fields requires that field names be specified using the Custom Field Descriptions.
New and modified script commands for case data (AUX):
New ATCSetAsReference script command. Allow the SaveCase script command to take special keywords as part of the filename. Simulator will replace these special strings as desired when creating the filename to save. @DATETIME will replace the keyword with the actual date and time in the format yyyymmdd_hhnnss-hhmm with the UTC offset included on the end of the time. The other special keywords @DATE, @TIME, @BUILDDATE,and @VERSION can also be used but are not as useful as the @DATETIME.
The text field for script command WriteTextToFile and the Header_Value_List for script command SaveDataWithExtra will now allow special keywords to specify date, time, and version. @BUILDDATE, @DATETIME, @DATE, @TIME, and @VERSION will be replaced with the appropriate values.
When using the CloseWithBreakers script command, devices will now have their status set to closed if they are open in addition to closing breakers to close the device. Previously if the status of the device was open, the device couldn’t be closed by closing breakers.
The OpenOneline script command can be now be used to open onelines and associate them with a case even though the onelines cannot be viewed while running SimAuto. When a case is saved using SimAuto after onelines have been opened, the onelines will also be opened along with the case when the case is opened through the GUI.
New and modified script commands for display data (AXD):
Added new script command FixFlowArrowLineEnds(“OnelineName”, “LayerName”);
Available Transfer Capability (ATC)
Model Conditions and Filters that are part of contingency model criteria used during ATC analysis now allow use of the Model Condition option to Disable if Condition is True in Contingency Reference State.
The option to evaluate Model Expressions or fields that are part of contingency actions in the contingency reference state is now used when running ATC analysis.
Bus View and Substation View
Modified the option for showing field labels so that it shows the column heading text of the field because this is much shorter.
Case Information Displays
Added the ability to specify the Key Fields type from the Case Information Toolbar.
When choosing to “Send to Excel” from a case information display, previously Simulator would always split exports of more than 256 columns into separate sheets in an Excel Workbook. For Excel versions 2007 and later, it will now only do this for more than 16,384 columns instead.
Model Conditions, Model Filters, and Model Expressions have a Memo field to help identify what RAS/SPS they belong to.
Added Online field for dc lines and VSC dc lines.
Added Derived Online field for lines, dc lines, and VSC dc lines. If Online = NO then Derived Online = OPEN, else Derived Online = Derived Status.
Added ability to show substation latitude and longitude with generators, loads, and switched shunts.
Allow advanced filtering on the Modify/Create Limit Groups table of the Limit Monitoring Settings and Violations dialog. This also affects the LimitSet data object when using scripts.
Added transformer fields on the transformer base to the Difference Flows base case to that they can be properly compared.
Added a new Branch field to show the difference in bus angle at each end of the branch (From Angle – To Angle).

v15.0 [Jul 11, 2010]
New Add-ons
- Transient Stability
- Distributed Computing options for Contingency Analysis and multi-scenario ATC
User Interface
- Generator rotor symbols can be changed to reflect fuel type
- Added feature to show the Long Line Voltage Profile across a transmission line. A graph will be shown with the per-unit voltage profile as the Y-axis and the X-axis will represent a percentage of where on the line the voltage is calculated by going from 0% at the from bus to 100% at the to bus.
- Many dialogs including Contingency Analysis, Available Transfer Capability, PV Curves, QV Curves, Transient Stability, Time Step Simulation, LP OPF, and SCOPF now use a tree view layout to make navigation among the many option pages much easier