Wind power optimal capacity allocation to remote areas taking into account transmission connection requirements

Abstract

Wind power is site dependent and is by nature partially dispatchable. Furthermore, good wind sites are far from grid. Owing to these problems, and along with the existing limitations in the transmission networks, a comprehensive analysis over an extended time is needed to properly explore all potential wind sites for wind capacity allocation. This problem is computationally expensive and decomposition methods are required to break down this problem. Here Benders decomposition approach is used, which is a popular technique for solving large-scale problems, to decompose the original problem into a master and a subproblem. The master problem is a linear problem, which allocates wind capacity to each site and determines the transmission line capacity for connection to the grid. The subproblem is a mixed-integer problem and performs a year-long unit commitment accompanied with DC optimal load flow. The subproblem uses the solution of the master problem to form the appropriate cut, representing operation cost, for the next iteration of the master problem. This procedure is iterated until the optimal solution is found. The IEEE 24-bus test system is used to demonstrate the proposed method. Simulation results show that the maximum profit is gained when there is a trade-off between transmission cost and wind curtailment. It is shown that by using a proper wind capacity allocation, wind penetration into the system will be maximised.