Enhancement of power system voltage stability in multi-carrier energy systems

Abstract

The concept of multi-carrier energy systems has provided new approaches for solving power system problems. Voltage stability is an important feature of power system which has capability of enhancement in the multi-carrier energy environment. Ordinarily, system operators are forced to select the expensive load curtailment option to preserve voltage stability. However, coupled operation of electrical and natural gas networks using energy hubs, can bring out new solutions for the voltage instability problem which occurs following severe contingencies. In this paper, a new method is proposed for improvement of voltage stability, with utilization of multi-carrier systems concept. This method is based on using natural gas network capability. It is shown that, in the coupled operation of electricity-gas networks, in addition to the reduction of power system voltage security costs, operational cost of the whole system is decreased in regular and contingency conditions, as well. IEEE 14-bus electrical system and 17-bus natural gas system are used for validation of the proposed method.