Dynamic Reserve and Transmission Capacity Allocation in Wind-Dominated Power Systems

Abstract: The large shares of wind power generation in electricity markets motivate higher levels of operating reserves. However, current reserve sizing practices fail to account for important topological aspects that might hinder their deployment, thus resulting in high operating costs. Zonal reserve procurement mitigates such inefficiencies, however, the way the zones are defined is still open to interpretation. This paper challenges the efficiency of predetermined zonal setups that neglect the location of stochastic power production in the system, as well as the availability, cost and accessibility of flexible generating units. To this end, we propose a novel reserve procurement approach, formulated as a two-stage stochastic bilevel model, in which the upper level identifies a number of contiguous reserve zones using dynamic grid partitioning and sets zonal requirements based on the total expected operating costs. Using two standard IEEE reliability test cases, we show how the efficient partitioning of reserve zones can reduce expected system cost and promote the integration of stochastic renewables.