An Examination of Transmission System Flexibility Metrics

In recent years, with the increasing penetration of solar generation, the uncertainty and variability of the power system generation also have increased. Power systems always require a balance between generation and load. The generation of the conventional generators must be scheduled to meet the total net load of the system with the variability and uncertainty of the solar resources integrated. The ability to match generation to load requires certain flexibility of the conventional generation units as well as a flexible transmission network to deliver the power. In this work, given the generation flexibility primarily reflected in the ramping rates, as well as the minimum and maximum output of the generation units, the transmission network flexibility is assessed using the metric developed in this work.

The main topic of this thesis is the examination of the transmission system flexibility using time series power flows (TSPFs). First, a TSPFs program is developed considering the economic dispatch of all the generating stations, as well as the available ramping rate of each generating unit. The time series power flow spans a period of 24 hours with 5-minute time interval and hence includes 288 power flow snapshots. Every power flow snapshot is created based on the power system topology and the previous system state. These power flow snapshots are referred to as the base case power flow below.

Sensitivity analysis is then conducted by using the TSPFs program as a primary tool, by fixing all but one of the system changes which include: solar penetration, wires to wires interconnection, expected retirements of coal units and expected participation in the energy

imbalance market. The impact of each individual change can be evaluated by the metric developed in the following chapters.