Enhancing electricity market flexibility by deploying ancillary services for flexible ramping product procurement

Abstract

The escalated penetration of wind energy in the electric industry has by large contributed to an intensified uncertainty and variability of the net-load, i.e., the difference between stochastic demand and intermittent supply. In response, some Independent System Operators (ISOs) have recently introduced the Flexible Ramping Product (FRP) to heighten the grid flexibility via effective hosting of the uncertain renewables. This paper suggests a novel framework for optimal FRP provision in real-time markets (RTM) in which the shortage in the RTM ramp capacity is compensated by optimal deployment of day-ahead procured spinning reserve. In the envisioned mechanism, the ISO can deploy specific portions of the spinning reserve capacity as the FRP price increases. On this basis, a new optimization algorithm is formulated that can best capture the joint ability of ESSs and thermal generating units in providing FRP in the RTM. The proposed model is numerically investigated on the IEEE 118-bus test system, where it reveals its efficacy and applicability in load curtailment reduction.