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>