Analysis of impact of renewable energy integration on the optimal operation of the restructured indian power system

Abstract

Emerging restructuring concepts and reforms in the electricity sector are forcing utility companies to reinvent their performance metrics and optimize the operation of their systems. As the promotion of Renewable Energy (RE) is a deregulation objective, there is a global initiative to scale-up the RE capacity complementing the conventional generation. The power system planners and System Operators (SO) are facing regulatory challenges in integrating the RE sources. With the advent of highly efficient RE technologies, there is a paradigm shift from the classical dispatch model of the conventional generators to the more flexible generation-demand dispatch. The SOs of utilities under the transition phase of restructuring follows a Merit Order Ranking (MOR) based dispatch or hand dispatch, which does not satisfy the system security and operational constraints. These utilities are in the process of migrating to advanced dispatch platforms using Optimal Power Flow (OPF) models. In India, based on the ambitious RE target of 175 GW capacity by the year 2022, new regulations are notified by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) mandating forecasting accuracy, error bands, and applicable deviation charges for RE generators (CERC, 2015). Since the Discoms are mandated to meet the Renewable Purchase Obligations (RPO), the OPF algorithms need to be revisited to consider the regulatory changes newline