Reliability Evaluation of Generation Systems Including Energy Limited UnitS—A Cluster Based Approach

Abstract

Most of the power system reliability studies ignore the effect of energy limitations. The limitation on available energy for the generating units can, however, have a significant effect on system reliability. Under certain conditions energy shortage may affect system reliability more severely than the forced outages of the units. In recent years, some attention has been given to reliability evaluation of generation systems including the effect of energy limitations in single area configurations. The basic methods are the forced outage rate (F.O.R) modification technique and the load duration curve or cumulative load model modification approach. The objective of this paper is to present a new analytical approach based on the concept of cluster load model for generation system reliability evaluation incorporating the effects of limited energy availability. The proposed method provides more efficient and realistic means of calculating generation system reliability indices. The method is illustrated using the IEEE-RTS system (Reliability Test System) and EPRI test system. The methodology and results are compared to the previous methods.