Demand Response based Power System Reliability Enhancement

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel technique to enhance the reliability of power systems utilizing the demand response (DR) programs such as interruptible/curtailable (I/C) load programs. In order to maintain the reliability of a power system, load demand should be satisfied at each load bus. If all or part of the loads cannot be satisfied, load curtailments are needed. However, load curtailments can be avoided by incorporating the DR programs. Existing methods to investigate the effect of DR programs on power system reliability do not include penalty terms, which is an important factor for effective participation of customers in DR programs. In this work, in addition to the existing economic models, a load curtailment model is developed for DR programs. This model is based on demand-price elasticity which is used to modify load curve characteristics. Using this model, the load curve is restructured considering both customer benefits and penalties. The proposed method is applied on the IEEE reliability test system and Monte Carlo simulation is used to evaluate the reliability indices. The effectiveness of the proposed technique is tested by comparing the well-known reliability indices before and after incorporating the proposed technique. The results show that incorporating I/C loads in the DR programs significantly improve the reliability of the system.