CHALLENGES IN THE PLANNING AND THE OPERATION OF RENEWABLE POWERED GRID
Challenges in the planning of Renewable powered Grid
The various countries target of net zero carbon emission is mentioned below,
- Sweden and Germany – 2045
- Japan, Korea, Canada, and New Zealand, UK – 2050
As countries set a goal of zero carbon emissions, planning for renewable energy capacity expansion is
crucial. Already, countries like India are beginning to plan for capacity expansion, given the Indian
government's goal of reaching 450 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 from renewable energy sources, although
their net-zero goal is 2070.
You may wonder what capacity expansion planning is, The Generation capacity Expansion Planning
is determining the optimal type of technology, expansion size, sitting, and timing of construction of
new power capacity minimizing the investment plus the operational cost of the system over the long
planning horizon, ensuring that installed capacity adequately meets projected demand growth.
Transmission expansion planning is the process of determining the necessary expansion and
transmission investment to reliably meet generation expansion.
If capacity expansion planning is not done properly, there may be the potential for the renewable
energy curtailment. For example, in China, many wind projects are located in remote areas in the
northwest that are poorly served by the grid. Sometimes they cannot send all of their potential power
to consumers, most of whom are in large urban areas on the southeast coast. Some solar projects
have encountered similar problems.
Challenges in the Operation of Renewable powered Grid
The key analysis to perform after the planning and during the operation.
- Production cost analysis
- Reliability analysis
- System stability studies
Production cost analysis
Production cost analysis is the principal approach used to quantify operational cost changes related
to transmission expansion options, not accounting for capital cost. Production cost analysis simulates
power system scheduling, which is generally performed by solving a unit commitment and economic
dispatch problem, subject to constraints. Solving this problem determines the least-cost combination
of online units (unit commitment) and their exact power output (economic dispatch) scheduled to
meet total demand, subject to system physical constraints (e.g., load balance, power flow laws, and
generator capabilities) and security constraints (e.g., transmission limitations, contingency reserves,
and single or multiple element failure contingencies). Modern production cost modelling tools can co-
optimize energy as well as operating reserve products such as contingency, regulating, and/or
flexibility reserves for the power system.
Production cost simulations typically consider a one-year planning horizon with chronological hourly
or sub hourly temporal resolution. Simulation along this horizon provides a clear understanding of
system operation under potentially significant seasonal variations in both renewable energy resource
availability and load. Simulating all probable operating conditions for multiple years is impractical
because of the computing power and time needed.
The output of Production cost analysis can be used as an Input for the Reliability analysis.
CHALLENGES IN THE PLANNING AND THE OPERATION OF RENEWABLE POWERED GRID
Reliability analysis
The Load analysis flow can use the results of commitment and dispatch cost analysis to identify critical
periods of the year that can affect system reliability.
Load flow analysis simulates steady state AC power flow of the transmission system, including voltage
levels and phase angles at substation buses, active and reactive power flows in transmission branches,
and system losses. This type of modelling helps ensure that the system is operationally suitable under
nominal conditions and that the system is adequate to meet the load, considering planned outages
and reasonably expected outages.
The choice of timing of an unscheduled outages depend on study requirements but typically focus on
periods when power systems may experience extremes such as peak load, minimum load, and
maximum power transfer across transmission interfaces, or periods of low or high renewable energy
generation. A load flow analysis helps planners ensure the system can maintain reliability through
these critical periods.
The results of Reliability analysis can be used as an Input for the Transient and Dynamic stability
studies.
Transient and Dynamic stability studies
Modelling the dynamic characteristics of the power system, which depict the ability of the system to
withstand an unexpected perturbation and return to stable, steady operation. Imaging the dynamic
characteristics of the system helps ensure that it is sufficiently planned to return to a steady state
after an outage or other disturbance, without causing additional disturbances or requiring significant
changes beyond the system's rated operating capacity. This information helps planners better
understand the reliability limitations and contingency needs of transmission expansion options.
Stability analyses may use the outputs and knowledge obtained from production cost and load flow
analyses to set initial, steady-state conditions. These simulations then examine various stability
concerns, including the voltage and transient stability after a transmission fault, frequency stability
following sudden loss of generation or load shedding, and ability to maintain synchronization after
small signal disturbances. They look at whether a system can recover and avoid a partial system
collapse. The complexity of these analyses rises rapidly with increases in the number of elements on
the system, contingency events, or scenarios considered. To limit complexity, the events are
constrained to the most common and severe events that a system may realistically face, and the
analysis is typically conducted for short periods of time on the order of sub seconds to minutes.
PRODUCTION RELIABILITY SYSTEM STABILITY
ANALYSIS STUDIES
COST ANALYSIS
CHALLENGES IN THE PLANNING AND THE OPERATION OF RENEWABLE POWERED GRID
CONCLUSION
The result of Production cost analysis can be considered as the Input of reliability analysis and if the
results found not satisfactory it should be taken as a feed back to the production cost analysis and it
is also applicable for the System stability studies. Basically these analysis should be performed in a
closed controlled loop manner.
Usually for the various Utility Operators, the Generation Expansion Planning and the Production cost
analysis will be carried out by the Generation Planning team and the Reliability analysis and System
Stability studies will be performed by Transmission Planning Team. There should be proper
coordination between generation planning and transmission planning who conducts Network studies.
The concepts mentioned in this article like Generation Expansion Planning, Transmission Expansion
Planning, Production cost analysis, Reliability analysis & System Stability studies are vast topic, I have
just briefed those here in this article.
References
1. Energy Planning & Trading Capacity Expansion - Hitachi Energy.
2. NREL - Transmission Planning Studies for the Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) Process - Nathan
Lee & Clayton Barrows.
