Security analysis of a power system requires a process called contingency analysis that analyzes results from all possible single contingencies (i.e. outages) in the system. The process of contingency analysis requires the definition of a parameter that is used to monitor a certain aspect of the system, which is called a performance index. The performance index definitions used traditionally have been highly nonlinear, and the results have not accurately predicted the outcome of the performance index in some cases. These incorrect results are referred to as misrankings since the contingency results are usually placed in order of severity so that the most severe cases are evident. This thesis considers a new definition of contingency ranking using a more linearized definition of the performance index. The construction of both the new, proposed definition and the classic definition both consider the current loading of circuits in the system as compared to their rated values. Specifically, the parameter measured by the proposed definition measures the difference, while the more nonlinear definition uses a ratio of the two quantities, which is then raised to a higher power. A small, four bus test system is used to demonstrate the benefits of the new, more linearized definition. The average percent error for all single line contingencies of the system decreased by over 9.5% using the proposed definition as compared to the previous one. This decrease in error allows this performance index to monitor a similar parameter (comparing current loading and current rating of the lines) and achieve a higher degree of accuracy. Further linearization of this proposed definition also shows a reduction in the average percent error by an additional 22% so that when compared to the original, highly nonlinear definition, the average error is reduced by almost 30%. By linearizing the definition of the performance index, the results are more accurate and misrankings are less likely to occur from the security analysis process.

In this dissertation, the problem of multi-area load frequency control in large power systems is investigated. The load frequency control problem is concerned with the minimization of the deviations in the frequencies of the different areas and in the tie line power exchange between these areas, and is a problem of major importance in the satisfactory operation of large power systems. Some new techniques for designing load frequency control systems are presented through the use of concepts from singular perturbation and hierarchical system theory. To provide appropriate vehicles for the design of the new control systems, state variable models for power systems are developed. These models progress from a two-area interconnected power system model to large scale models comprising of N areas. Two centralized state feedback schemes are proposed for the load frequency control by utilizing the separation of the system models into two time scales. In the first scheme, composite controls and reduced order controls are developed to meet the required performance specifications by. The second scheme is obtained by using the theory of variable structure systems where the existence of a sliding regime leads to the design of a single discontinuous state feedback controller that meets the performance requirements. In order to further improve the performance of the closed loop system, a two level hierarchical control scheme is developed. This consists of a set of local controllers that are designed using either the singular perturbation approach or the variable structure system approach as before and a set of global control functions provided by a higher level controller that attempts to coordinate the local controllers. The interaction prediction principle is used as a tool in the design of the global controller. The performance of the presently developed control schemes is examined in detail for the illustrative cases of a two-area and a three-area power system. From this analysis, it is shown that these controllers provide an improved performance compared to the existing control schemes in reducing the frequency and tie line power deviations.

In order to achieve binding Government targets towards the decarbonisation of the electricity network, the GB power system is undergoing an unprecedented amount of change. A series of new technologies designed to integrate massive volumes of renewable generation, predominantly in the form of offshore wind, asynchronously connecting to the periphery of the transmission system, are transforming the requirements of the network. This displacement of traditional thermal generation is leading to a significant reduction in system inertia, thus making the task of system operation more challenging. It is therefore deemed necessary to develop tools and technologies that provide far greater insight into the state of the power system in real-time and give rise to methods for improving offline modelling practices through an enhanced understanding of the systems performance. To that extent PMUs are seen as one of the key enablers of the Smart Grid, providing accurate time-synchronised measurements on the state of the power system, allowing the true dynamics of the power system to be captured and analysed. This thesis provides an analysis of the existing PMU deployment on the GB transmission system with a view to the future system monitoring requirements. A critical evaluation and comparison is also provided on the suitability of a University based Low Voltage PMU network to further enhance the visibility of the GB system. In addition a novel event detection algorithm based on Detrended Fluctuation Analysis is developed and demonstrated, designed to determine the exact start time of a transmission event, as well as the suitability of such an event for additional transmission system analysis, namely inertia estimation. Finally, a reliable method for the estimation of total system inertia is proposed that includes an estimate of the contribution from residual sources, of which there is currently no visibility. The proposed method identifies the importance of regional inertia and its impact to the operation of the GB transmission system.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Power equipment suppliers that manufacture goods to customer requirements face various opposing forces, such as increasing customer expectations, increasing competition and escalating costs. To sustain margins, companies need to understand what constitutes customer satisfaction, thereby enabling them to differentiate their goods and services from those of competitors, and to charge appropriately for those goods and services. Although customer satisfaction is important to industrial goods suppliers such as power equipment suppliers, most studies have been conducted in the business-to-consumer (B2C) environment, focusing on consumer goods and services, with very few studies focusing on the business-to-business (B2B) environment. Compounding the difficulties with customer satisfaction for South African industrial suppliers is that most literature on the subject is applicable to markets outside of South Africa. This paper aims to give South African industrial goods suppliers some insight into those factors that improve customer satisfaction. The identification of critical success factors seen as important by customers was, therefore, the focus of this research assignment. First, customer satisfaction as a critical success factor is reviewed by comparing it to other success factors in an attempt to validate whether it influences organisational performance positively. Second, a list of appropriate items comprising customer satisfaction is identified from the literature review, and the differences between direct customers and indirect customers are identified and discussed. To reduce the number of constructs to be surveyed, the variables that make up customer satisfaction were ranked using prioritisation matrices against Porter’s Five Forces model (Porter, 2008) and the Blue Ocean Strategy model (Kim & Mauborgne, 2004). The shortened list comprised 39 items, which measured ten constructs of customer satisfaction. Questionnaires were sent to customer representatives who were critical decision-makers when deciding on purchases of industrial equipment. The responses were evaluated as a complete group and showed some statistical significance between the constructs. The responses were then evaluated according to organisational types, which showed no statistical significant differences or interaction effects.

published_or_final_version / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Chemistry / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

One of the great challenges to increasing the use of wind generation is the need to ensure generation adequacy. In this dissertation, we address that need by investigating and assessing the planning and operational generation adequacy of power systems with significant wind generation. At the onset of this dissertation, key metrics are presented for determining a power system’s generation adequacy assessment based on loss-of-load analytical methods. With these key metrics understood, a detailed methodology is put forward on how to integrate wind plants in the assessment’s framework. Then, through the examination of a case study, we demonstrate that wind generation does contribute capacity to the system generation adequacy. Indeed, results indicates that at wind penetration levels of less than 5%, a wind plant’s reliability impact is comparable to an energy equivalent conventional unit. We then show how to quantify a wind plant’s capacity contribution by using the effective load carrying capability metric (ELCC), providing a detailed description of how to implement this metric in the context of wind generation. However, as certain computational setbacks are inherent to the metric, a novel noniterative approximation is proposed and applied to various case studies. The accuracy of the proposed approximation is evaluated in a comparative study by contrasting the resulting estimates to conventionally-computed ELCC values and the wind plant’s capacity factor. The non-iterative method is shown to yield accurate ELCC estimates with relative errors averaging around 2%. Case study findings also suggest the importance of period-specific ELCC calculations to better evaluate the variable capacity contribution of wind plants. Even when considering a well-planned system in which wind generation has been appropriately integrated in the adequacy assessment, wind plants do create significant challenges in maintaining generation adequacy on an operational level. To address these challenges, a novel operational reliability assessment tool is proposed to quantitatively evaluate the system’s operational generation adequacy given potential generator forced outages, load and wind power forecasts, and forecasting deviations. / text

<p>Summary</p><p>One important theme in William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies is power. The boys in Lord of the Flies copy the behavior of their parents: competing, fighting and even killing each other for power. They form two groups, each following a different power system, the democratic system on the one side and the totalitarian system on the other.</p><p>My aim in this essay is to examine the complexity of these power systems in Lord of the Flies, revealed in the two layers in which they appear in the story, the boys on the island and the adults in their world. Moreover I want to show how Golding contributes both positive and negative traits to both systems, never falling into the habit of giving a black and white picture of either of the power systems. Overall I will focus on two boys, Jack and Ralph, exemplifying through them how the two systems gain their power, develop their structures, which methods they use to keep power, and how the systems handle crisis. At the end of my essay I then will shortly illustrate how Golding connects the adult world and their behavior to the boys’ story.</p><p>My conclusion is that Golding shows very clearly that the desire for power and the will to fight and kill for it exists in both adults and children. Overall his attempt is to illustrate that it is difficult to have an absolute, perfect and ideal power system. There are always things that can be criticized and improved. However, he does indicate that certain systems are more dangerous than others. The totalitarian power system can escalate much easier into savagery than the democratic system. So, Golding prefers power systems that benefit the community rather than only the leader himself.</p>

Electric powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have emerged as a promi- nent aviation concept due to the advantageous such as stealth operation and zero emission. In addition, fuel cell powered electric UAVs are more attrac- tive as a result of the long endurance capability of the propulsion system. This dissertation investigates novel power management architecture for fuel cell and battery powered unmanned aerial vehicle propulsion application. The research work focused on the development of a power management system to control the hybrid electric propulsion system whilst optimizing the fuel cell air supplying system performances. The multiple power sources hybridization is a control challenge associated with the power management decisions and their implementation in the power electronic interface. In most applications, the propulsion power distribu- tion is controlled by using the regulated power converting devices such as unidirectional and bidirectional converters. The amount of power shared with the each power source is depended on the power and energy capacities of the device. In this research, a power management system is developed for polymer exchange membrane fuel cell and Lithium-Ion battery based hybrid electric propulsion system for an UAV propulsion application. Ini- tially, the UAV propulsion power requirements during the take-off, climb, endurance, cruising and maximum velocity are determined. A power man- agement algorithm is developed based on the UAV propulsion power re- quirement and the battery power capacity. Three power states are intro- duced in the power management system called Start-up power state, High power state and Charging power state. The each power state consists of the power management sequences to distribute the load power between the battery and the fuel cell system. A power electronic interface is developed Electric powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have emerged as a promi- nent aviation concept due to the advantageous such as stealth operation and zero emission. In addition, fuel cell powered electric UAVs are more attrac- tive as a result of the long endurance capability of the propulsion system. This dissertation investigates novel power management architecture for fuel cell and battery powered unmanned aerial vehicle propulsion application. The research work focused on the development of a power management system to control the hybrid electric propulsion system whilst optimizing the fuel cell air supplying system performances. The multiple power sources hybridization is a control challenge associated with the power management decisions and their implementation in the power electronic interface. In most applications, the propulsion power distribu- tion is controlled by using the regulated power converting devices such as unidirectional and bidirectional converters. The amount of power shared with the each power source is depended on the power and energy capacities of the device. In this research, a power management system is developed for polymer exchange membrane fuel cell and Lithium-Ion battery based hybrid electric propulsion system for an UAV propulsion application. Ini- tially, the UAV propulsion power requirements during the take-off, climb, endurance, cruising and maximum velocity are determined. A power man- agement algorithm is developed based on the UAV propulsion power re- quirement and the battery power capacity. Three power states are intro- duced in the power management system called Start-up power state, High power state and Charging power state. The each power state consists of the power management sequences to distribute the load power between the battery and the fuel cell system. A power electronic interface is developed with a unidirectional converter and a bidirectional converter to integrate the fuel cell system and the battery into the propulsion motor drive. The main objective of the power management system is to obtain the controlled fuel cell current profile as a performance variable. The relationship between the fuel cell current and the fuel cell air supplying system compressor power is investigated and a referenced model is developed to obtain the optimum compressor power as a function of the fuel cell current. An adaptive controller is introduced to optimize the fuel cell air supplying system performances based on the referenced model. The adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system based controller dynamically adapts the actual compressor operating power into the optimum value defined in the reference model. The online learning and training capabilities of the adaptive controller identify the nonlinear variations of the fuel cell current and generate a control signal for the compressor motor voltage to optimize the fuel cell air supplying system performances. The hybrid electric power system and the power management system were developed in real time environment and practical tests were conducted to validate the simulation results.