A power system with multiple interconnected areas needs to be operated coordinately for the purposes of the system reliability and economic operation, although each area has its own ISO under the market environment. In consolidation of different areas under a common grid coordinator, analysis of a power system becomes more computationally demanding. Furthermore, the analysis becomes more challenging because each area cannot obtain the network operating or economic data of other areas. This dissertation investigates decomposition algorithms for multi-area power system transfer capability analysis and economic dispatch analysis. All of the proposed algorithms assume that areas do not share their network operating and economic information among themselves, while they are willing to cooperate via a central coordinator for system wide analyses. The first proposed algorithm is based on power transfer distribution factors (PTDFs). A quadratic approximation, developed for the nonlinear PTDFs, is used to update tie-line power flows calculated by Repeated Power Flow (RPF). These tie-line power flows are then treated as injections in the TTC calculation of each area, as the central entity coordinates these results to determine the final system-wide TTC value. The second proposed algorithm is based on REI-type network equivalents. It uses the Continuation Power Flow (CPF) as the computational tool and, thus, the problem of voltage stability is considered in TTC studies. Each area uses REI equivalents of external areas to compute its TTC via the CPF. The choice and updating procedure for the continuation parameter employed by the CPF is implemented in a distributed but coordinated manner. The third proposed algorithm is based on inexact penalty functions. The traditional OPF is treated as the optimization problems with global variables. Quadratic penalty functions are used to relax the compatible constraints between the global variables and the local variables. The solution is proposed to be implemented by using a two-level computational architecture. All of the proposed algorithms are verified by numerical comparisons between the integrated and proposed decomposition algorithms. The proposed algorithms lead to potential gains in the computational efficiency with limited data exchanges among areas.

Electrical energy is one of the most common forms of energy these days. Consequently, electric power system is an indispensable part of any society. However, due to the deregulation of electricity markets and the growth in the share of power generation by uncontrollable renewable energies such as wind and solar, power system simulations are more challenging than earlier. Thus, new techniques for simplifying these simulations are needed. One important example of such simplification techniques is the power system reduction. Power system reduction can be used at least for four different purposes: a) Simplifying the power system simulations, b) Reducing the computational complexity, c) Compensating the data unavailability, and d) Reducing the existing uncertainty. Due to such reasons, power system reduction is an important and necessary subject, but a challenging task to do. Power system reduction is even more essential when system operators are facing very large-scale power systems and when the renewable energy resources like hydro, wind, and solar have a high share in power generation. This thesis focuses on the topic of large-scale power system reduction with high penetration of renewable energy resources and tries to pursue the following goals: • The thesis first reviews the different methods which can be used for simplifying the power system studies, including the power system reduction. A comparison among three important simplification techniques is also performed to reveal which simplification results in less error and more simulation time decrement. • Secondly, different steps and methods for power system reduction, including network aggregation and generation aggregation, are introduced, described and discussed. • Some improvements regarding the subject of power system reduction, i.e. on both network aggregation and generation aggregation, are developed. • Finally, power system reduction is applied to some power system problems and the results of these applications are evaluated. A general conclusion is that using power system simplification techniques and specially the system reduction can provides many important advantages in studying large-scale power systems with high share of renewable energy generations. In most of applications, not only the power system reduction highly reduces the complexity of the power system study under consideration, but it also results in small errors. Therefore, it can be used as an efficient method for dealing with current bulk power systems with huge amounts of renewable and distributed generations. / <p>The Doctoral Degrees issued upon completion of the programme are issued by Comillas Pontifical University, Delft University of Technology and KTH Royal Institute of Technology. The invested degrees are official in Spain, the Netherlands and Sweden, respectively. QC 20150116</p>

In the past decades, the renewable penetration in power systems has steadily increased, and is also expected to grow exponentially in the following years. Encountering this fast growing trend, the underfrequency load-shedding schemes, as the last resort of power systems in terms of frequency stability, have been implemented in a decentralized way where the settings are predefined and fixed. The purpose of the underfrequency load-shedding scheme is to disconnect a certain amount of loads to reduce load-generation imbalance following generator outages, while the renewable energy sources, implemented as distributed generation units can result in the situations where substantial amount of distributed generation can be disconnected together with loads at the same time. This can to some extent cancel out the effect of shedding loads, and in some extreme cases, aggravate frequency response. Apart from the impact of distributed generation, in some power systems there can be several areas where large amount of power is always exchanged in between. Inappropriate load-shedding amount and location can increase the risks of tie-line overloading, further resulting in tripping of tie-lines. In order to tackle these problems, an adaptive underfrequency load-shedding scheme was proposed which utilizes distributed feeder power measurements, measurements from distributed generation, as well as the SCADA system that serves as the main role of monitoring and control. The implementation of the proposed architecture is also explained in the thesis. The results exhibit that the proposed scheme is able to alleviate the stress of tie-line power flow to some extent following power outages, while also be affected by generation loss size and location. Besides, the proposed scheme also provides contribution to frequency stabilization by shedding less distributed generation. / Under de senaste decennierna har andelen förnybar produktion i elkraftsystem globalt ökat markant ökat och förväntas också fortsätta växa avsevärt under de kommande åren. Samtidigt med denna utveckling är det viktigt att beakta de systemvärn som består av belastningsfrånkoppling för frekvensåterställning som implementerats med fördefinierade inställningar på ett decentraliserat vis. Avsikten med ett sådant system värn är att koppla bort en viss mängd last för att undvika att frekvensen sjunker under tillåtna gränsvärden i samband med ett större fel, t.ex. att en större generator kopplas bort. Eftersom den förnybara produktionen ofta är distribuerad i nätet, kan en sådan från koppling av last dock medföra att stora mängder förnybar produktion kopplas bort samtidigt. Detta kan i vissa fall tänkas innebära att lastfrånkopplingen innebär en försämrings av frekvensen. Utöver effekterna på distribuerad produktion som ett systemvärn för lastbortkoppling kan ha, så kan det även innebära försämringar i kraftsystem bestående av flera områden, s.k. multiarea kraftsystem där enstaka förbindelser utgör flaskhalsar för överföringen. En olämpligt vald bortkoppling av last kan leda till överbelastning av de ledningar som går mellan områdena i kraftsystemet. I syfte att hantera bägge dessa problem föreslås i detta arbete en adaptiv lastfrånkopplingsmekanism som använder mätningar i distributionsnätet via SCADA systemet, vilket utgör basen i lösningen. Föreliggande rapport presenterar lösningen i detalj, resultaten visar att lösningen kan minska belastningen på förbindelserna mellan områden i ett kraftsystem för vissa fall. Dessutom bidrar den föreslagna lösningen till ett bättre bidrag till frekvensstabiliteten genom att en lägre mängd distribuerad förnybar kraft kopplas bort.