Electricity Transmission

The siting of high voltage overhead transmission lines (HVOTLs) is often subject to public opposition where affected communities seek to protect local places. This study explores the perspectives of local citizens affected by a proposed HVOTL to connect new nuclear power at Hinkley Point in Southwest England. A two-day public workshop was held with 38 participants in an affected line-site community, using deliberative focus group methods to explore perceptions of environmental and social impacts, risks, governance arrangements and technology choices. The findings show how potential health effects from electric and magnetic fields (EMF) and visual impacts are perceived to industrialise rural places, disrupt place attachments and provoke local opposition. The findings challenge the 'not-in-myback-yard' assumption that citizens are selfish place-protectionists that lack the technical sophistication necessary to take a strategic viewpoint on transmission system development. They also reveal how decision making under the former UK Infrastructure Planning Commission's (IPC) (and its successor body the Planning Inspectorate) presents a challenge to procedural justice, as front-loaded developer-led consultation practices curtail citizen input to key decisions on alternative technologies (for example, underground or undersea lines). This is likely to exacerbate public mistrust of transmission system operators and provoke further organised protest.

Economic, technology and environmental incentives are changing the features of electricity generation and transmission. Centralized power systems are giving way to local scale distributed generations. At present, there is a need to assess the effects of large numbers of distributed generators and short-term storage in Microgrid. A Matlab/Simulink based flywheel energy storage model will be presented in details. The corresponding control philosophy has been well studied. Simulation results show the accurate dynamic behavior of flywheel unit during charge and discharge modes. The flywheel unit is fully compatible with the existing Microgrid testbed.

Economic, technology and environmental incentives are changing the features of electricity generation and transmission. Centralized power systems are giving way to local scale distributed generations. At present, there is a need to assess the effects of large numbers of distributed generators and shortterm storage in Microgrid. To accommodate the high demand of renewable energy and the environment policy, the planning and operation of Micro-source generators has been studied using HOMER. Simulation results show a case study of an optimal microgrid configuration on Ontario area in Canada. Sensitivity variables are specified to examine the effect of uncertainties (e.g. diesel price and average wind speed), especially in a long-term planning. The effect of air emission penalties on Microgrid planning is also well presented.

This paper provides an overview of the development of electric power transmission access, pricing and investment policies in the U.S. over the last 15 years and evaluates the current state of those policies. Pre-liberalization transmission access and pricing policies are reviewed since more recent policies have evolved from them. FERC's efforts to ensure that transmission owning utilities provide non-discriminatory access and pricing to wholesale transmission customers, culminating in Order 888 and 889 are discussed. These rules did not respond to problems created by a highly balkanized transmission system and only partially responded to problems caused by common ownership and operation of transmission networks with generating and marketing businesses in the same regions. These problems motivated FERC to seek to create Regional Transmission Organizations (RTO) meeting a long list of criteria related to governance, network consolidation, network operations, transmission pricing and investment as reflected in Order 2000. The slow pace of "voluntary" reform following Order 2000 led FERC to issue a proposed Standard Market Design Rule (SMD) which provided more detailed prescriptions for wholesale market design, network operations, regional planning, resource adequacy, and transmission investment. The SMD rule confronted enormous resistance from groups of utilities and states that have not embraced an electricity sector liberalization agenda. However, many of the provisions of the SMD are being implemented by the RTOs and ISOs in the Northeast and Midwest. PJM's market rules and transmission pricing, planning and investment policies are reviewed as an articulation of FERC's RTO and SMD visions. JEL: L94, L51, K2

This research explains how electrical power is transmitted underground. It emphasized the most essential benefits, limitations, uses, and locations where underground transmission is commonly employed. The method chosen is primarily determined by factors such as cost, voltage, safety, application, and so on. The overhead power transmission is inexpensive, as is the installation process. Underground power transmission, on the other hand, is more expensive but has numerous advantages, such as the potential to limit outages, lower maintenance costs, safety, more environmentally friendly, and transmission losses are frequently lower with underground cables than with overhead lines. The study presented the problem of Dohuk's overhead transmission system growing with the province's expansion, which led to the expansion of overhead transmission network because they are cheaper, and the project overlooked other concerns such as social and environmental. The challenge does not end there; decision makers are embracing the concept of installing transmission lines above ground without regard for future impacting circumstances. As a consequence, interviews, observation, and research techniques were utilized to investigate topics such as why subterranean tables are expensive, and what the cost benefits of this transmission system are, how the overhead transmission lines are affecting the Duhok region, and why there is no future plans for underground transmission type. Furthermore, the study covered objectives such as understanding the effect of transmission lines and making rational proposals for utilizing underground spaces for transmission lines in the case study rather than surface, as well as putting some recommend applications of underground transmission lines for the development of sustainable energy supply in Duhok governorate. The findings indicated that there is insufficient understanding about this type, and the opportunity cost of adopting underground transmission type is positive, since though it is costly now, it will serve and save economic, social, and environmental difficulties in the future in a sustainable manner.

The South-East Europe region is faced with the new challenges related to organization of electricity market. The main goal of this paper is to analyze present South-East Europe power transmission system infrastructure, taking into account recent developments, and to examine influence of the future market activities on a reinforced power grid. The analysis has been made for several scenarios of cross-border electricity exchanges, taking into account planned transmission network projects as well as foreseen investments in a new generation capacities in the following few years. Change in the electricity consumption in the region has also been taken into account. Analysis, which has been performed, emphasized a several critical bottlenecks in the transmission network that must be solved in a due time in order not to limit cross-border electricity trade and thus not to distort competitiveness in the regional electricity market in South-East Europe.

In a carbon-constrained economy, two main methods of mitigating carbon emissions stand out: preventing carbon from being generated or preventing emissions from entering the
atmosphere. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) at coal-fired power plants and increasing the use of wind energy in the electricity sector are two major ways the United States could reduce the carbon intensity of its economy. However, these methods are associated with noncarbon impacts that differ greatly. This work compares the direct mining impacts of increased coal demand associated with CCS with those of increased aluminum demand associated with expanding transmission systems to enable incorporation of wind power. Coal demand is volumetrically far greater than aluminum demand, and it is continuous, as coal is consumed during use. Coal production for American use takes place in the United States, with most present and future production likely to center on the Appalachian and Western regions. Solid waste disposal, land disturbance, and water contamination are the main problems associated with coal mining. By contrast, aluminum is produced from bauxite, a resource imported by the United States. It is also produced from recycled metal, associated with no mining impact. Though process wastes occur domestically, this means that the direct mining impacts of aluminum extraction do not affect the United States. Aluminum needs for expanded transmission are quite limited, probably representing a one-time need for about 1.5% of Jamaica’s annual bauxite production, while CCS coal needs could almost double American coal demand for the same mitigation.

This interview study with UK electricity distribution and transmission network operators (DNO and TNO) and the regulator Ofgem, examines how key industry actors conceptualise "publics," "stakeholders" and "customers" and how these conceptualisations subsequently inform their engagement practices with these heterogeneous groups. The results show that regulatory changes to the structure of distribution networks have encouraged greater levels of "stakeholder" involvement. However, DNO regional monopoly powers and the regulatory environment serve to conflate network actors' representations of "the public" with "customers," and also "hides" DNO roles in a manner that precludes direct citizen engagement. TNO respondents employ public exhibitions in transmission line siting, although at a stage "downstream" in the decision-making process whereby citizens have little decisional influence. We conclude that network operators adopt the rhetoric of deliberative engagement whilst lacking a clear rationale and effective means to incorporate citizen perspectives in long-term network development or specific infrastructure siting proposals.

In response to the challenges of climate change and long-term energy security, the governments of many industrialised countries are opting for extensive changes to systems of electricity generation. In the UK a target has been set for 40% of electricity generation to be from renewable energy technologies and nuclear power by 2020 (DECC, 2009). Whilst these changes in electricity generation have been subject to media reporting, political commentary, and academic study, by comparison far less attention has been paid to the consequences of such changes upon existing infrastructures of electricity transmission and distribution öthat is, to what is commonly referred to in the UK as the`national grid'ödespite the fact that new low-carbon sources will, in many cases, require new infrastructures to connect generation to industrial and domestic electricity users.

contracts, congestion management, nodal pricing, physical and financial transmission contracts, and associated market power issues. This work typically takes the transmission network as given. However, in the medium and long term as demand grows and new generating capacity is added to replace older, less efficient, capacity or to meet growing demand efficiently, investments in transmission capacity are likely to be necessary to minimize the overall costs of wholesale electricity supplies, to maintain reliability, to mitigate locational market power, and to improve the performance of competitive wholesale and retail markets.

A catastrophic outage of the U.S. electric grid could seriously jeopardize national security; threaten critical, life-sustaining services and, consequently, the health of millions of people; and cost trillions of dollars in lost revenue. This study identifies proactive, cost-effective solutions that could be implemented promptly to protect utility communication and control systems from solar storms and electromagnetic pulses caused by nuclear detonations in the atmosphere. It also identifies possible sources of federal grants and methods of cost recovery to encourage utilities to invest in grid resiliency. Protecting electric grid communications and its power sources could facilitate rapid recovery and prevent extended outages caused by natural or deliberate EMP events.

Electricity transmission grids need to be operated in a safe, affordable, reliable, predictable and sustainable manner. To do so, innovations in the electricity transmission industry have progressed in response to strict regulations and the unavoidable aging of transmission network infrastructure. Electric-power blackouts and increase in electricity demand equally put pressure on the transmission grid, which further buttress the need for more innovative tools and working methods for the transmission grid. The Nigerian electricity industry have received much attention as regards restructuring. To date, almost every segment of the industry has undergone restructuring in order to introduce formal markets as a vehicle for electricity transactions in the country, except for the transmission company. This paper talks about electric-power transmission innovations for improved electricity product development inclusive of: Contract networks for electric-power transmission; Spot pricing of electric-power transmission service; Prioritization of electricity transactions and related curtailment strategies for managing transmission congestion; Marginal pricing of transmission services; And robotics application to electricity transmission lines maintenance. A case study has been presented investigating employee's perspective of innovative electricity product development on the performance of the transmission company of Nigeria.

Електричний струм у металевому провіднику не є потоком електричних зарядів, чи то їх носіїв –
електронів; натомість він є потоком кінетичної енергії останніх. Провідники електричного струму, у
тому числі резистори, уміщують в собі електронний газ у формі деякої електронної хмари,
електрони якої перебуваючи в стихійному русі, прагнуть рухатися з однаковими швидкостями,
завдяки чому якщо у якомусь одному місці хмари вони якусь мить рухатимуться з відмінною
швидкістю, то вже наступної миті і їх швидкості, і їх кінетичні енергії зрівняються з усіма останніми.
В характері електропередачі є вже давно помічена аналогія з передаванням тепла, хоч швидкості
цих передач є незрівнянними, що можна легко зрозуміти, порівнюючи маси електронів і атомів
або молекул тепло передаючих об’єктів. Електроенергія передається від електрона до електрона,
причому і той і інший з свого місця в хмарі практично не зрушують, так само як і тепло передається
від молекули до молекули, котрі теж відносно самого об’єкта місця не міняють. Питомий опір є
пропорційним половині маси електронів, що припадають на одиницю об’єму електронної хмари
провідника =
, і різниця в питомому опорі різних матеріалів є наслідком того, що різні
матеріали мають різні питомі маси асоційованих з ними електронних хмар. Як витікає з закону
Ома і першого закону Джоуля: електричний опір провідника дорівнює частці від ділення маси його
електронної хмари на два квадрати площі її поперечного перерізу =
; напруга між клемами
резистора дорівнює добутку падіння швидкості хаотичного руху електронів між початком і кінцем
його електронної хмари на половину маси цієї хмари, поділеної на площу її поперечного
перерізу = ( − )
; сила струму в резисторі дорівнює добутку падіння швидкості хаотичного
руху електронів між початком і кінцем його електронної хмари на площу її поперечного перерізу
= = ( − ) ; електричний потенціал у будь-якій точці електронної хмари провідника
дорівнює добутку швидкості хаотичного руху електронів в цій точці на половину маси хмари,
поділеної на площу її поперечного перерізу =
.

Nicaragua, with a population of about 4.4 million people, has the largest land area among Central American countries (about 120,000 sq. km.). Nicaragua borders on Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south, is mountainous in the west, with fertile valleys, and a plateau slopes eastward toward the Caribbean. After emerging from almost a decade of internal strife, its fragile economy was ravaged by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Today, Nicaragua ranks among the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere: It is the second poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean with a yearly GNP per capita which is only one-third of the regional average (US$430 in 1999). In relative terms, poverty and extreme poverty remain overwhelmingly rural. Two out of three people in rural areas are poor, compared to one out of three in urban areas. In rural areas, 77 percent of the population lack potable water, about a third have no access to latrines, 57 percent have no access to electricity, and 94 percent use only firewood for cooking. (Nicaragua Poverty Reduction and Local Development projects, Project appraisal document, World Bank , 2001). Reducing poverty in Nicaragua requires special attention to accelerating the growth of the rural economy because the majority of Nicaragua's poor live in the countryside. Improving access to electricity by rural populations is key to this growth. At present about one-half of the population in Nicaragua have electricity, and only about 20 percent of rural population have access to grid-based electricity systems. This is a significant increase from the low levels of electricity access that existed in the early 1970s of less than 10 percent with access to service, but based on the income level of the country it is still very low. 10 3.1 Nicaragua electrification statistics In 1999, Nicaragua had the lowest energy consumption by capita for the Central American Region. With a total of less than 305 KWh on average per inhabitant per year (835 Wh /day), energy consumption was only 22 % of Costa Rica and slightly lower than Guatemala (the second lowest consumer of energy in the region). On a residential level, energy consumption was less than 90 KWh/year (246 Wh/day). These figures reflect a low grid electrification coverageand the high level of poverty resulting in low domestic and productive consumption of energy (see table below).

An electrical transmission network consists of producers, consumers and the power lines connecting them. We build an ideal (lossless) DC load flow model as a cooperative game over a graph with the producers and consumers located at the nodes, each described by a maximum supply or desired demand and the power lines represented by the edges, each with a given power transmission capacity and admittance value describing its ability to transmit electricity. Today's transmission networks are highly interconnected, but ...

We examine the performance attributes of a merchant transmission investment framework that relies on "market driven" transmission investment to provide the infrastructure to support competitive wholesale markets for electricity. Under a stringent set of assumptions, the merchant investment model has a remarkable set of attributes that appear to solve the natural monopoly problem and the associated need for regulating transmission companies traditionally associated with electric transmission networks. We expand the merchant model upon which these conclusions are based to incorporate imperfections in wholesale electricity markets, lumpiness in transmission investment opportunities, stochastic attributes of transmission networks and associated property rights definition issues, the effects of the behavior of system operators and transmission owners on transmission capacity and reliability, coordination and bargaining considerations, forward contract, commitment and asset specificity issues. Incorporating these more realistic attributes of transmission networks and the behavior of transmission owners and system operators significantly undermines the attractive properties of the merchant investment model. Relying primarily on a market driven investment framework to govern investment in electric transmission networks is likely to lead to inefficient investment decisions and undermine the performance of competitive markets for electricity. A significant research challenge is to design regulatory mechanisms for system operators and incumbent transmission owners and a better framework for defining transmission property rights that will stimulate efficient investments by regulated incumbent transmission owners and by merchant entrants responding to market opportunities when they are the most efficient suppliers. * We would like to thank Richard Green, Shmuel Oren, Masheed Rosenqvist, Steven Stoft, and Frank Wolak for helpful comments on earlier drafts. † MIT. Research support from the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research and the Cambridge-MIT Institute is gratefully acknowledged. ‡ IDEI and GREMAQ (UMR 5604 CNRS), Toulouse, CERAS (URA 2036 CNRS), Paris, and MIT.

This paper could not have been written without the assistance of many friends and colleagues inside and outside the World Bank. These individuals helped us develop an understanding of the wholesale market design and implementation issues in developing and developed countries. They generously shared their time and insights to make sure that we understood the issues at hand and their implications for the countries we focused on. They

An electrical transmission network consists of producers, consumers and the power lines connecting them. We build an ideal (lossless) DC load flow model as a cooperative game over a graph with the producers and consumers located at the nodes, each described by a maximum supply or desired demand and the power lines represented by the edges, each with a given power transmission capacity and admittance value describing its ability to transmit electricity. Today's transmission networks are highly interconnected, but organisationally partitioned into several subnetworks, the so-called balancing groups with balanced production and consumption. We study the game of balancing group formation and show that the game contains widespread externalities that can be both negative and positive. We study the stability of the transportation network using the recursive core. While the game is clearly cohesive, we demonstrate that it is not necessarily superadditive. We argue that subadditivity may be a barrier to achieve full cooperation. Finally the model is extended to allow for the extension of the underlying transmission network.

In order to support a future classification of the ability of regional electricity systems to integrate high shares of renewable energy, a set of indicators has been proposed.

These include the level of balancing power available in the system, the margin of short-term backup power and the margin of longer-term secured capacity. More research is needed to further develop these indicators and their relation to the development of the transmission systems, and to make them useable across Europe.

The overview of options shows that while grid expansions and reinforcements and the development of new storage options will be the major measures for accommodating high shares of RES into European electricity systems, the further options of increasing the flexibility of conventional power generation and of the demand side also have the potential to make a significant contribution. An intelligent combination of the available options will reduce the need for expensive and time-consuming grid investments.

The 1979 and 1999 constitutions of Nigeria created anti-development frameworks that unhealthily endowed the federal government with excessive powers in direct contravention of the most basic tenets of federalism. One of the items that has remained subtly contrived in the exclusive list is power generation. The 2005 Electric Power Sector Reform Act through Sections 8, 65 and 66 established and licensed Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to take charge of transmission and system operation of high voltage network of the Nigerian electricity supply industry. Thus, the Nigerian energy policy structure continues to be top-down involving huge investments in large electricity mega plants, generating electricity into mega grids for mega distribution. Based mainly on secondary sources of data, this paper is a descriptive and analytical clarification of issues on power sharing as key impediment to poor electricity generation, transmission and distribution in Nigeria. The study examines the implications of power behemoth federal government that stifles autonomy of federating units in Nigeria. It observes that the exclusive right to electricity transmission by the federal government negates sustainable electric power supply in Nigeria. It therefore recommended devolution of powers and streamlining of Second Schedule of 1999 Constitution to reflect a true federal system

h i g h l i g h t s • Compared to transshipment, optimal power flow affects policy-relevant outcomes. • PV build and marginal cost of electricity delivery change with optimal power flow. • A single node in each region for power flow maintains model tractability. • A version of optimal power flow with transmission losses shows limited effect. • Domestic market-clearing price of natural gas varies slightly across model versions. a b s t r a c t The purpose of this study is to assess the policy-relevant effects of incorporating a more proper representation of electricity transmission in multi-sector national policy models. This goal is achieved by employing the KAPSARC Energy Model (KEM), which is the first publicly available large-scale energy policy model for Saudi Arabia. Past studies using KEM have examined industrial pricing policy, residential energy efficiency, the prospects of power generation technologies, and residential electricity pricing. These studies have shown that under certain fuel pricing scenarios, significant renewable energy capacity is deployed. With large-scale renewable technologies introduced in the power system, representing transmission more appropriately becomes important. By incorporating a direct current optimal flow model, our results show • the optimal investment in utility-scale photovoltaics are 30 percent lower, and the weighted average marginal costs of delivering electricity are 100 percent higher, compared to a model that has a transshipment formulation, • a version of KEM with a single node in each region for transmission and without transmission losses provides valuable insight while keeping the model size tractable, • the market-clearing price of natural gas in a deregulated environment modifies slightly, demonstrating that a transmission component predominantly affects the operations of the power system. Although the scarcity of natural gas increases slightly due to lower PV deployment, its greater use by power generators is minor.

Electric current in metallic conductor is not a current of electric charges or their porters – electrons;
rather it is current of their kinetic energy. Electric current conductors e.g. resistors are provided with
electronic gas that forms some kind of electronic cloud with electrons that while moving chaotically are
trying to run with an equal velocity, thanks to which if in some place of the cloud they run for a while
with a different velocity the next moment their velocities and their kinetic energies would get equal to
all the others. Although their speeds are incomparable, electricity conduction has a long ago noticed
analogy with conduction of heat, which is easy to understand if to compare masses of electrons and
atoms or molecules of heat conducting objects. Electric energy is transported from electron to electron,
the one and the other practically do not changing their place in the cloud, as well as heat is transported
from molecule to molecule that also do not change their place in the object. Resistivity is proportional to
half mass of the electrons contained in a unity of volume of the conductor’s electronic cloud =
,
and the difference in resistivity of different materials is a consequence that such different materials
have different specific masses of their associated electronic clouds. As results from the law of Ohm and
the first law of Joule: 1) the electric resistance of a conductor equals the mass of its electronic cloud
divided by two squares of its cross-section area, =
; 2) the electric tension between resistor
terminals equals the product of the difference in electrons chaotic motion velocities at the beginning
and the end of the electronic cloud and the half mass of this cloud divided by its cross-section area,
= ( − )
; 3) the current through a resistor equals the product of the difference in electrons
chaotic motion velocities at the beginning and the end of the electronic cloud and its cross-section area,
= = ( − ) ; 4) the electric potential in a point of a conductor’s electronic cloud equals the
product of the electrons chaotic motion velocity in this point and the half mass of the cloud divided by
its cross-section area, =
.

"Timo Myllyntaus is one of the most prolific writers on nineteenth and twentieth century Finnish economic history in English. His research has focused particularly on the history of energy production, prices, and business historical aspects of industrialisation. Phases of a Network continues this line of investigation. Here Myllyntaus aims to examine 'the pivotal phases that led to the construction of the Finnish [electricity] grid and how it was 'completed' The emphasis in the study is placed on the pre-Second World War period, thus tracing the development of the grid from the origins of lines laid by the mining companies in Eastern Finland in the 1890s to the national energy policy introduced in the inter-war period, with a brief analysis on the post-war development patterns. .."

Book review by Jari Eloranta, Business History, January 1, 2001

This book is available also in Finnish: Vaiheikas verkko. Läpimurrosta kansalliseksi järjestelmäksi, Helsinki: Fingrid Oyj 1999, 64 Pp.

The construction of new electricity-transmission infrastructure is construed in UK energy policy documents as necessary for achieving government targets to increase low-carbon electricity provision to combat climate change and ensure long-term energy security. Siting high-voltage overhead lines and substations is publicly controversial, however, due to their potential environmental, social, and economic impacts. Also controversial are issues of governance, procedural justice, and technological choice in decision making, particularly in light of recent legislative changes to the planning of nationally significant infrastructure projects in the UK. This study uses the Q-method to assess the discourses emerging from stakeholder and local community actor responses to line siting in the context of proposed transmission network upgrades in the southwest of England to support a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset. The analysis reveals three discourses, representing diver...

This article argues that state and regional initiatives have unique benefits and drawbacks that should be recognized and embraced when states attempt to develop greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction policies. Before setting policies designed to reduce GHG emissions, lawmakers and government regulators should consider whether the actions they are contemplating are likely to be effective at their given level of government. That is, although a program may be theoretically capable of achieving its desired effect, GHG reduction programs will be significantly impeded if the implementing authority chooses programs that are too broad or too limited in scope. To that end, this article analyzes recent GHG emissions reduction initiatives in the energy-rich state of Wyoming. The article considers initiatives at the state and regional level and considers these programs in the context of proposed GHG emissions reduction plans in other states and regions. This article was presented at the Wyomi...

The objective of the note is to inform the government's policy thinking by identifying the principal challenges that the power sector faces and outlining solutions for overcoming them. The note also discusses some broader energy sector issues related to the gas tariff structure and demand. The note will also be disseminated to increase understanding and awareness among key stakeholders and the general public on the key challenges facing the power sector and the potential solutions for overcoming them. This will help to promote improved dialogue and collaboration between the government and the other key stakeholders. The note is organized in following topics: power sector structure; synopsis of challenges and solutions; principal challenges and solutions; and annexes.

Most ISOs in the US minimize the total bid cost and then settle the market based on locational marginal prices. Minimizing the total bid cost, however, may not lead to maximizing the social welfare. Studies indicate that for energy only, payment cost minimization (PCM) leads to reduced payments for a given set of bids, and the “hockey-stick” bidding a less likely to occur. Since co-optimization of energy with ancillary services leads to a more efficient allocation, it is important to solve PCM co-optimization while considering transmission capacity constraints for a comparison with other auction mechanisms. In this paper, PCM is formulated using price definition system-wide constraints. This problem formulation introduces difficulties such as nonlinearity, non-separability and complexity of convex hull. To overcome these difficulties, the nonlinear terms are linearized thereby allowing to be solved by using branch-and-cut. At the same time, the linearization is performed in a way th...

Restructuring efforts in the U.S. electric power sector have tried to encourage transmission investment by independent (non-utility) transmission companies, and have promoted various levels of market-based transmission investment. Underlying this shift to "merchant" transmission investment is an assumption that new transmission infrastructure can be classified as providing a congestion-relief benefit or a reliability benefit. In this paper, we demonstrate that this assumption is largely incorrect for meshed interconnections such as electric power networks. We focus on a particular network topology known as the Wheatstone network to show how congestion and reliability can represent tradeoffs. Lines that cause congestion may be justified on reliability grounds. We decompose the congestion and reliability effects of a given network alteration, and demonstrate their dependence through simulations on a 118-bus test network. The true relationship between congestion and reliability depends critically on identifying the relevant range of demand for evaluating any network externalities.

This paper provides an overview of the development of electric power transmission access, pricing and investment policies in the U.S. over the last 15 years and evaluates the current state of those policies. Pre-liberalization transmission access and pricing policies are reviewed since more recent policies have evolved from them. FERC's efforts to ensure that transmission owning utilities provide non-discriminatory access and pricing to wholesale transmission customers, culminating in Order 888 and 889 are discussed. These rules did not respond to problems created by a highly balkanized transmission system and only partially responded to problems caused by common ownership and operation of transmission networks with generating and marketing businesses in the same regions. These problems motivated FERC to seek to create Regional Transmission Organizations (RTO) meeting a long list of criteria related to governance, network consolidation, network operations, transmission pricing and investment as reflected in Order 2000. The slow pace of "voluntary" reform following Order 2000 led FERC to issue a proposed Standard Market Design Rule (SMD) which provided more detailed prescriptions for wholesale market design, network operations, regional planning, resource adequacy, and transmission investment. The SMD rule confronted enormous resistance from groups of utilities and states that have not embraced an electricity sector liberalization agenda. However, many of the provisions of the SMD are being implemented by the RTOs and ISOs in the Northeast and Midwest. PJM's market rules and transmission pricing, planning and investment policies are reviewed as an articulation of FERC's RTO and SMD visions.

Investment planning models inform investment decisions and government policies. Current models do not capture the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources, restricting the applicability of the models for high penetrations of renewables. We provide a methodology to capture spatial variation in wind output in combination with transmission constraints. The representation of wind distributions with stochastic approaches or an extensive historic data set would exceed computational constraints for real world application. Hence we restrict the amount of input data, and use boot-strapping to illustrate the robustness of the results. For the UK power system we model wind deployment and the value of transmission capacity.

This paper describes the procedures established by the present regulation for high-tension network expansions, studies its optimality and points its main problems. According to the present regulatory scheme, the decision to expand the high-tension network system is on the hands of the private sector. A simple model of the Argentine electricity system and its regulation allowed the simulation of cases in which the present "Public Contest" method could result in the rejection of socially desirable projects and the acceptance of undesirable ones. Some of the reasons for the existence of wrong incentives to investment are found and changes to the mechanism are suggested.

This paper describes the procedures established by the present regulation for high-tension network expansions, studies its optimality and points its main problems. According to the present regulatory scheme, the decision to expand the high-tension network system is on the hands of the private sector. A simple model of the Argentine electricity system and its regulation allowed the simulation of cases in which the present "Public Contest" method could result in the rejection of socially desirable projects and the acceptance of undesirable ones. Some of the reasons for the existence of wrong incentives to investment are found and changes to the mechanism are suggested.

The combined effects of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, as well as the resulting incident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility, left Japan with a large gap between electricity-generating capacity and projected consumption. The lack of a nationally-integrated electricity distribution grid makes the plight of the Japanese economy and population even worse, since it’s difficult to transfer surplus electricity from western regions to those directly or indirectly hit by the natural disaster. This illustrates the need for a "smart grid".