Impact of High Levels of Variable Renewable Energy on Power System Generation Adequacy
Methods for analyzing and ensuring the generation adequacy of modern, multi-area power systems
Time: Wed 2020-06-10 10.00
Location: N/A (Via videolink due to Corona virus), (English)
Subject area: Electrical Engineering
Doctoral student: Egill Tomasson , Elkraftteknik, Integration of Renewable Sources (IRES)
Opponent: Associate professor Dirk Van Hertem, KU Leuven
Supervisor: Professor Lennart Söder, Elkraftteknik
Abstract
The generation adequacy of electricity supply has been an ongoing concern since the restructuring of the industry. Ensuring generation adequacy was a rather straightforward task in the era of natural monopolies. Whose responsibility was it to ensure generation adequacy as the industry became deregulated and more fragmented? Who is willing to finance rarely used generating units? After decades of experience with the competitive electricity market, the question of whether market forces alone are sufficient to ensure generation adequacy still remains.
Recent energy policies have moreover set a goal of a high share of renewable energy in electricity markets. The presence of high levels of renewable generation makes the supply side of the market more uncertain. This volatility in energy production induces volatility in energy prices which means that the revenue stream of conventional generating technologies is more uncertain than it has traditionally been. This can even deteriorate the economics of some generators to the point where they exit the electricity market. The installed capacity of dispatchable generation can therefore be reduced.
These developments bring up the question of whether the generation adequacy of modern and future, deregulated and highly variable power systems is ensured. This dissertation focuses on modeling the generation adequacy of modern power systems with a high penetration of variable renewable energy sources. Moreover, the dissertation looks at some solutions with the aim of ensuring the generation adequacy of such systems through various means such as coordinated reserves, energy storage as well as utilizing the flexibility of the demand side of the market.
The models developed in this dissertation are verified using well-known test systems as well as through large-scale analysis of real-world systems. Aside from focusing on the simulation of power systems, the developed models moreover focus on achieving high computational efficiency. This is done through means such as advanced Monte Carlo simulation and optimization methods that apply decomposition to speed up the simulations.