Managing Intermittency in Planning and Operations of Power

University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign, Urbana IL

Investigators

Abstract

The objective of this research is to develop effective tools to help power system operators and planners to address the challenges posed by the intermittency effects that are becoming more pronounced due to the increasing penetration of wind-based energy in the resource mix. The approach is to develop, through detailed statistical analysis, probabilistic models of the output of wind farms with different technology turbines located at various sites in a power system. These models will be used to evaluate system operational reliability and operational costs under different reserve policies for systems with various levels of wind penetration. The investigation will determine the robustness of the models as the penetration becomes deeper and will allow the construction of trade-off surfaces between different levels of reliability and operational costs. Intellectual Merit The proposed probabilistic models will be able to represent the impacts of wind speed variability and their imperfect forecasts on wind resource generation. The models will consider geographical correlation between wind sites, demand/wind speed temporal correlations, cannibalization effects among units in wind farms and smoothing effects resulting from the integration of several wind farms into a power system. Broader Impacts The project will allow the realization of one of the main aspects of the smart grid vision ?o the widespread deployment of renewable energy resources. The educational goals are to develop a vision for reshaping the power and energy systems curricula to provide appropriate training to the new generation of green energy engineers, who will provide the leadership and expertise to make sustainable energy a reality.