Integrated Electricity System Research Articles

The influence of electric transportation charging modes on the operation of the Ukraine’s Integrated Electricity System and emission levels

This paper studies the potential impact of electric transportation charging modes on Ukraine’s Integrated Power System operation and emission levels. The non-linear integer least-cost model developed by the Institute of General Energy was used. Three electric transportation charging modes were analyzed. Calculations illustrate mainly positive effect of electric transportation on the energy system operation, particularly reduction of fuel consumption and emissions of greenhouse gases and pollutants. The results would support the development of strategies for electric transportation development.

Energy Transition in the Brazilian Electric Power System

This article summarizes key changes in market and regulatory governance arrangements in the electricity sector in Brazil over the last three decades. The Brazilian reform process during this period can be described as a series of attempts to move toward a market-driven system, interrupted by ad hoc interventions of a political nature or to respond to specific crises. This series of events reveals the pathway of a system that managed to significantly expand and diversify its electricity power mix by harnessing its renewable endowment. The historical role played by hydropower plants with reservoirs—along with a highly integrated electricity system—in smoothing production over time has been considerably diminished and will continue to be as climate change takes its toll. Thus, improvements in market and governance arrangements are required to promote a more diverse electricity mix, with variable renewable energy and demand management playing much more significant roles.

Temporal aggregation for large‐scale multi‐area power system models

The study of integrated electricity systems that consist of several interconnected areas in the long term often results in large-scale complex models, that are difficult to solve. The already large spatial size of these systems, combined with a fine-grained time representation, necessary to capture the short-term variability arising from the high penetration of renewable generation, increases the complexity of the problem, and thus, its computational cost. To overcome this issue, temporal reduction techniques are generally applied. However, the application of time aggregation in interconnected systems represents a challenge. The goal is to select the best possible time aggregation that considers at the same time the particularities of each of the areas that make up the whole system. To do so, the authors propose a new methodology for temporal aggregation in multi-area energy system models. By implementing a multi-dimensional clustering algorithm, the original hourly data is transformed into system states, or group of hours that share similar characteristics, reducing significantly the computational burden required to solve it. Together, an accurate representation of the variability of the system is achieved. The main conclusions are derived from a real-size case study based on the electricity markets of three European countries. The sensitivity analysis performed shows the degree of accuracy of the results obtained, as well as the computing cost incurred for different temporal configurations. Ultimately, the results show the benefits of using this methodology over a more conventional approach.

Central American integration through infrastructure development: A case study of Costa Rican hydropower

At the turn of the 21st century, protectionist policies in Latin America were largely abandoned for an agenda that promoted free trade and regional integration. Central America especially experienced an increase in international, interstate, and intraregional economic integration through trade liberalization. In 2004, such integration was on the agenda of every Central American administration, the U.S. Congress, and Mexico. The Plan Puebla-Panama (PPP) and the Central America Integrated Electricity System (SIEPAC), in particular, aimed to facilitate the success of free trade by increasing energy production and transmission on a unifi ed regional power grid (Mesoamerica, 2011). Meanwhile, for the United States, a free trade agreement (FTA) with Central America would bring it a step closer to realizing a hemispheric trade bloc while securing market access for its products. Isthmus states considered the potential for a Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with the United States, their largest trading partner, as an opportunity to enter the global market on a united front. A decade and a half on, CAFTA, PPP, and SIEPAC are interwoven, complimentary initiatives that exemplify a shift towards increased free trade and development throughout the region. As such, to understand one, the other must be examined.

Modeling framework and validation of a smart grid and demand response system for wind power integration

Electricity generation from wind power and other renewable energy sources is increasing, and their variability introduces new challenges to the power system. The emergence of smart grid technologies in recent years has seen a paradigm shift in redefining the electrical system of the future, in which controlled response of the demand side is used to balance fluctuations and intermittencies from the generation side. This paper presents a modeling framework for an integrated electricity system where loads become an additional resource. Agent-based modeling is used to represent a smart grid power system integrating generators, transmission, distribution, loads and market. The model incorporates generator and load controllers, allowing suppliers and demanders to bid into a Real-Time Pricing (RTP) electricity market. The modeling framework is applied to represent a physical demonstration project conducted on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington, USA, and validation simulations are performed using actual dynamic data. Wind power is then introduced into the power generation mix illustrating the potential of demand response to mitigate the impact of wind power variability, primarily through thermostatically controlled loads. The results indicate that effective implementation of Demand Response (DR) to assist integration of variable renewable energy resources requires a diversity of loads to ensure functionality of the overall system.

Coordinating Cross-Border Congestion Management Through Auctions: An Experimental Approach to European Solutions

Competition among producers within an integrated electricity system is impeded by any limited transmission capacity there may be at its borders. Two alternative market mechanisms have recently been designed to organize the allocation of scarce transmission capacity at cross-border level: the 'implicit auction', already used in some countries, and the 'coordinated explicit auction', proposed by the European Transmission System Operators (ETSO) but not implemented yet. The main advantage of the explicit auction is that it allows each country to keep its own power exchange running. In the European institutional context, this is seen as a factor of success of a market reform, although the explicit auction (not coordinated) is known to be less efficient than the implicit mechanism. The addition of a coordination dimension in the explicit auction is intended to solve problems of international flows. We use an experimental methodology to identify and compare in a laboratory setting the efficiency properties of these two market mechanisms, given a market structure similar to the existing one in continental Europe, i.e. a competitive oligopoly. Our main result highlights the inefficiency of the coordinated explicit auction compared to the performance of the implicit auction, measured in terms of both energy prices and transmission capacity allocation. We suggest that the poor performance of the coordinated explicit auction in the laboratory is due to the level of individual expectations about both energy and transmission prices that the mechanism demands. One solution to resolve this problem when the mechanism is implemented in the field would be to design an additional and secondary market for 'used' transmission capacity.

Coordinating cross-border congestion management through auctions: An experimental approach to European solutions

Competition among producers within an integrated electricity system is impeded by any limited transmission capacity there may be at its borders. Two alternative market mechanisms have recently been designed to organize the allocation of scarce transmission capacity at cross-border level: (i) the “implicit auction”, already used in some countries, and (ii) the “coordinated explicit auction”, proposed by the European Transmission System Operators (ETSO) but not yet implemented. The main advantage of the explicit auction is that it allows each country to keep its own power exchange running. In the European institutional context, this is seen as a factor of success of a market reform, although the explicit auction (not coordinated) is known to be less efficient than the implicit mechanism. The addition of a coordination dimension in the explicit auction is intended to solve problems of international flows. We use the experimental methodology to identify and compare in a laboratory setting the efficiency properties of these two market mechanisms, given a market structure similar to the existing one in continental Europe, i.e. a competitive oligopoly. Our main result highlights the inefficiency of the coordinated explicit auction compared to the performance of the implicit auction, measured in terms of both energy prices and transmission capacity allocation. We suggest that the poor performance of the coordinated explicit auction in the laboratory is due to the level of individual expectations about both energy and transmission prices that the mechanism demands. One solution to resolve this problem when the mechanism is implemented in the field would be to design an additional and secondary market for “used” transmission capacity.

Power education at the crossroads

To meet the demands of designing and running far more complex and highly integrated electricity systems, a new kind of power engineer is needed. In this paper, the author describes how, though students tend to favor higher-tech and more lucrative fields than power engineering, reports of the discipline's demise are exaggerated.

Fuel cells, energy system evolution and electric utilities

Spurred by recent technology advances, utilities have begun to include fuel cells into their menu of future electricity generating options. Latest studies suggest competitiveness with diesel-electric generators in those parts of utility service areas that are not connected to the integrated electricity system. These early market niches are key for the commercialization of fuel cell technology and must not be ignored. From the perspective of the overall energy system evolution, however, electric utilities are not the real long-term target market for fuel cells. The most promising market will be the transportation sector while electric utilities are likely to become both electricity and hydrogen producers.