A tool developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory aimed at helping utilities evaluate and identify problems with power plants as they respond to power grid disturbances is going commercial. 

Virginia-based software company Simple Thread has licensed the technology, built on PNNL’s Generator Scorecard, and will market it as Aion Pulse, according to a release.  

The technology uses data from time-synchronized measurements of grid conditions dozens of times per second. It automatically detects disturbances in the data and generates performance assessments for each power plant. 

Historically, engineers analyzed those events manually, reviewing large volumes of measurement data one generator at a time, a time-consuming and difficult process to scale as power systems become more complex. 

“Through our collaboration with PNNL, we’ve created something rare – a tool engineered by people who deeply understand both the physics of the grid and the modern software required to support it,” said Simple Thread’s CEO and founder, Justin Etheredge, in a statement.