CONGESTION IN POWER

NETWORK
- M B SHARMA
Congestion

When transmission demand >capability
When Voltage levels in a corridor beyond operable limits
When Real time line flow exceeds the TTC
Most fundamental transmission management problem
A natural corollary of growth
Occurs in deregulated markets
Commercial signal to Tr. Requirement
N-1 Planning
System security at stake
POWER SYSTEM DE-REGULATION
(RESTRUCTING)
GENCO
TRANSCO
DISCO
Tie Lines
GENCO
TRANSCO
DISCO
GENCO
DISCO
GENCO
DISCO
GENCO
TRANSCO
DISCO
Deregulation or Restructuring denotes breaking up of the
Vertically Integrated Utility(VIU) structure into Competitive
Market Entities.
RESTRUCTURED ELECTRICAL
INDUSTRY
ENTITIES RESULTING FROM DE-
REGULATION
SO
GENCO
TRANSCO DISCO
SO is the Power System Operator and the Power Market
Operator, which may include other entities depending on the
market structure. SO, is independent of the other entities
Congestion management methods
Cost free methods (Physical)
Generation/ Load Control
Network Reconfiguration (Parallel Paths, Loops)
FACTS/ FSC ETC
Voltage improvement
Non-cost free methods (Commercial )
Rescheduling of transactions
Curtailment
Imposition of Congestions charge

Congestion occurance
Real Time :
Inadequate system conditions
Temporary outage of Tr. Line / Generator/
Load
Ex-ante (before fact):
More transactions by a far end Consumer
Seasonal skew in L-G balance
More demand for transmission corridor
Congestion mitigation
Stage 1 : Ex-ante (before fact):
Bidding for transmission corridor (for bilateral
transactions)
Market Split (for Collective transactions)
Stage 2 : (Real time)
Impose Congestion charges on UI
Stage 3 : (Real time)
Curtailment of STOA/ Collective/ MTOA/ LTA
Pre-requisites
Observability of Grid (SCADA)
Scheduling mechanism
EMS tools (Contingency Analysis, Security
Constrained Dispatch)
Commercial Mechanism

Congestion management in India
Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Measures to
relieve congestion in real time operation) Regulations,
2009
congestion charge shall be applied as a commercial
measure.
The congestion charge will be payable by a Regional
entity or entities causing congestion in the inter-regional
link or intra-regional link
and receivable by a Regional entity or entities relieving
congestion.
In addition to the Unscheduled Interchange charges
Measures to mitigate Congestion
Transfer Capability
Total Transfer Capability (TTC) means the amount
of electric power that can be transferred reliably over
the inter-control area transmission system under a
given set of operating conditions considering the
effect of occurrence of the worst credible contingency.
Transmission Reliability Margin (TRM) means the
amount of margin kept in the total transfer capability
necessary to ensure that the interconnected
transmission network is secure under a reasonable
range of uncertainties in system conditions.

Measures to mitigate Congestion
Transfer Capability
Available Transfer Capability (ATC) means
the transfer capability of the intercontrol area
transmission system available for scheduling
commercial transactions (through long term
access, medium term open access and short
term open access) in a specific direction,
taking into account the network security.
Mathematically ATC is the Total Transfer
Capability less Transmission Reliability
Margin.

Total Transfer Capability (TTC)

Transmission Reliability Margin (TRM)

Computation of TRM for a region or
control area or group of control areas
would be based on the consideration of
the following:
Two percent (2%) of the total anticipated peak
demand met in MW of the control area/group
of control area/region ( to account for
forecasting uncertainties)
Size of largest generating unit in the control
area/ group of control area/region

Measures to mitigate Congestion
Declare ATC by NLDC/ RLDCs / for Inter
Regional/ Intra regional and each control area
Congestion charge imposed on only Deviations
from schedules
Rate of congestion charge : Rs.5.45/u
Notice of
2 time blocks for imposing
1 time block for lifting congestion charge
Congestion charge would be levied for
over drawal or under-injection in the importing control area
under drawal or over-injection in the exporting control area.


NLDC/ RLDC display the TTC, ATC,
Actual flow on the congested corridor on
common SCADA display
No congestion charges if congestion is
due to outage of a transmission line in the
corridor, but schedules are maintained
In such case, curtailment of STOA/ MTOA
and then LTA
REAL TIME CONGESTION MANAGEMENT

In case of transmission constraint or threat to
grid security, the scheduled transactions may be
curtailed in the manner as decided by the NLDC
/RLDCs / SLDCs to relieve the transmission
constraint/ to improve grid security.
Collective Transaction through Power
Exchange(s) would normally be curtailed
subsequent to the Short-Term Bilateral
Transaction(s).
contd
RLDCs would curtail a Transaction at the periphery of the Regional
Entities. SLDC(s) shall further incorporate the inter-se curtailment of
intra-State Entities to implement the curtailment.
In case of curtailment of a Transaction caused by transmission
constraints
/ threat to grid security, the Transmission Charges in respect of such
transaction shall be payable on pro-rata basis in accordance with
the finally Implemented Schedules. Operating Charges shall not be
revised in case of curtailment.
Power Exchange (s) shall be responsible for the settlement on
account of curtailment, directly with its participants.
NLDC/RLDCs/SLDCs shall interact only with the respective Power
Exchange(s), for the same
Payment /receipts though Congestion
charge a/c
Utilization of fund for studies, SPS, Shunt
capacitrs
Upstream
O/D &U/G relieve
U/D & O/G aggravate
O/D &U/G receive charges
U/D & O/G pay charges

Downstream
U/D & O/G relieve
O/D &U/G aggravate
U/D & O/G receive charges
O/D &U/G pay charges

Congestion Charge Imposition
Congestion accounting
NLDC/ RLDC provide
From/To time block
corridor
and Upstream /downstream entities
details to RPCs on a weekly basis when
congestion charge is kicked along with
reasons
RPC to issue congestion account along
with UI accounting

THANKS