Operations- and Uncertainty-Aware Installation of FACTS Devices in a Large Transmission System

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive method for optimally installing FACTS devices in large transmission systems, considering AC power flow, uncertainty, and cost tradeoffs, demonstrated on real-world models.

Contribution

It introduces a novel heuristic optimization approach for placement and control of FACTS devices accounting for AC power flows and uncertainties.

Findings

Proper FACTS installation extends system feasibility.

Installation reduces long-term power generation costs.

Method is scalable to large transmission networks.

Abstract

Decentralized electricity markets and more integration of renewables demand expansion of the existing transmission infrastructure to accommodate inflected variabilities in power flows. However, such expansion is severely limited in many countries because of political and environmental issues. Furthermore, high renewables integration requires additional reactive power support, which forces the transmission system operators to utilize the existing grid creatively, e.g., take advantage of new technologies, such as flexible alternating current transmission system (FACTS) devices. We formulate, analyze and solve the challenging investment planning problem of installation in an existing large-scale transmission grid multiple FACTS devices of two types (series capacitors and static VAR compensators.) We account for details of AC character of the power flows, probabilistic modeling of multiple-load scenarios, FACTS devices flexibility in terms of their adjustments within the capacity constraints, and long term practical tradeoffs between capital vs operational expenditures (CAPEX vs OPEX). It is demonstrated that proper installation of the devices allows to do both - extend or improve feasibility domain for the system and also decrease long term power generation cost (make cheaper generation available). Nonlinear, nonconvex, and multiple-scenario-aware optimization is resolved through an efficient heuristic algorithm consisting of a sequence of quadratic programmings solved by CPLEX combined with exact AC PF resolution for each scenario for maintaining feasible operational states during iterations. Efficiency and scalability of the approach is illustrated on the IEEE 30-bus model and the 2736-bus Polish model from Matpower.