Assessment of the contribution of storage and demand side management to power system flexibility

Abstract

The increasing penetration of renewable technologies, particularly wind power, raises concerns about the levels of flexibility needed to cope with the inherent variability and uncertainties surrounding these sources of energy. Departing from the common conception of providing flexibility using fossil-fuel generators with fast ramp rates, this work proposes the use of emerging technologies and solutions. A technique to optimize the balance between the flexibility provided by fast generation units and the flexibility achievable from demand side management (DSM) and storage of electrical energy is presented. This methodology is based on an extended unit commitment optimization that caters for both the short- and long-term aspects, i.e., operational and investment costs. The methodology is demonstrated using an adapted version of the IEEE RTS (RTS-96), using actual demand and wind profiles from central Scotland.The results proved value of storage and DSM as resources to improve the overall performance of the system and increase its flexibility. Furthermore, both allow greater degrees of penetration of wind generation improving the costs and reducing the requirements of fast generation. DSM has better characteristics than storage when improving the performance of the system but has a limited capacity, its reliability is uncertain so its contribution to reserves is restricted. Regarding that storage is only limited by the capital expenditure and it is more reliable states as a good complement to DSM and as a better solution to maintain the reserve requirements.

Date of Award	31 Dec 2011
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Luis(Nando) Ochoa (Supervisor)