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CEATI » Interest Groups » Transmission » PSPOIG
Power System Planning and Operations Interest Group
Many new and very recent developments are having a major impact on the restructuring of the electric power industry, making the construction of new lines and large generating plants more difficult. These include deregulation and the reorganizing of vertically-integrated monopolies arising from new economic dictates, the resulting requests of independent power producers for fair access to the transmission system, and environmental pressures.
Among the solutions to meet the increasing power demand and to avoid congestion and system collapse are the upgrading of existing systems, the application of equipment based on power electronics (FACTS), and the use of alternate and renewable energy sources. Advantages of the new approaches would include deferring investment in large infrastructures, satisfying demand for electric power in a shorter time frame and at lower cost, and reducing transmission system losses.
The Interest Group focuses on new technologies that enhance the use of existing lines and facilities and that are applicable to the design and implementation of new lines. |
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Topics and Issues
- Transmission System Adequacy
- Development of tools and techniques to establish, through historic operating data, the degree of Transmission Systems’ overloading under normal and contingent operating conditions in order to identify appropriate expansion plans
- Exploring the use of compact and multi-voltage line designs for different voltage levels. Compact lines are much smaller and need smaller right-of- ways. They are less expensive, can carry more power and have lower outage rates.
- Examining different types of emerging new conductors with higher operating temperatures and smaller sag to identify the most suitable for use in line upgrading and construction of new lines for different operating voltages.
- Planning and Operation Practices
- Review the type and severity of contingencies to which the system is expected to experience, and their probability of occurrence, under current uncertain conditions facing system planners and operators.
- Review the principles on which load shedding systems are implemented in terms of frequency settings, use of the frequency trend elements, size and location of the shed load as well as the speed of the load shedding systems.
- Review of frequency control systems and establish minimum percentages of generation responding to frequency changes under governor action or Automatic Generation Control (AGC).
- Develop schemes that activate load shedding and/or other control actions, based on voltage behavior in order to prevent voltage instability and voltage collapse from occurring.
- Means to Increase Transmission Capacity and Security
- Dynamic loading of transmission lines, according to ambient conditions of temperature, wind and sun, without violating clearance criteria or deteriorating conductor properties.
- Methods of effective Life Management of network components over their lifetime. Some the main candidates for these procedures are power transformers, cables and circuit breakers.
- Means of reducing line outages due to short circuits to improve system reliability.
- Means of limiting single phase and three phase short circuit levels of transmission grids to avoid replacing existing breakers and limiting the size of new ones.
- Exploring the possibility of developing FACTS like devices using mechanically switched components, such as vacuum switches instead of solid-state switches. These devices should be able to perform functions currently are performed by FACTS devices where the response speed is not crucial.
- Deregulation and Electricity Markets
- Exploring methods of regional optimization of electric production and facility usage across several independently operated control areas and means of management of congestion across these areas.
- Developing financial models for market operation including bidding techniques used by generator owners in order to be able to predict generation dispatching patterns and the resulting power flow in the grid
- Modern Tools and Techniques
- Develop tools and techniques to account of increased uncertainty in load generation patterns due to market operation schemes as well as the spread of new generation sources, which are not under dispatcher control and/or have uncertain availability.
- Develop dynamic models for new types of generation such as Gas Turbines and Combined Cycle units as well as renewable resources such as Wind, Solar and Fuel cells. Models for Wind and Solar Generation have to account for the statistical nature of the energy sources (Wind and Sun).
- Develop means of using wide system monitoring to enhance the ability of operators in tracking system behavior and taking the right measures at early signs for system problems.
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Dr. Atef Morched heads the Power System Planning and Operations Interest Group (PSPOIG). He received his PhD at the Technical University of Norway and has since acquired over 25 years experience in Power System Planning at Ontario Hydro (now Hydro One) and as an Adjunct Professor at the Universities of Toronto and Western Ontario. In 2000, he joined the Technical University of Lisbon and, later, Electricidade de Portugal. Dr. Morched has authored a number of scientific papers and technical reports and contributed to the state of the art in the field of power system analysis. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and is active in chairing and participating in IEEE and CIGRE working groups and task forces.
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