Reliability of electric power systems: challenges in the deregulated environment — a research perspective

Abstract

Electric power industry deregulation has brought about the unbundling of generation, transmission and distribution services and as such, new techniques for reliability assessment are being developed to account for the consequent structural changes in the restructured environment. The transition towards deregulation imposes several unique challenges for establishing reliability modeling paradigms. Addressing these concerns requires a comprehensive knowledge of the technical and economic issues involved and the identification of relevant research gaps. This paper presents a broader framework for the research perspectives to holistically address the significant issues that can profoundly impact the reliability studies in the liberalized environment. Starting from the improvisations in the reliability network equivalent techniques in vogue, this paper advocates the use of power flow tracing as a potential tool for reliability and well-being studies of power systems, and expands upon their practical implications.