ECE 530 – Analysis Techniques for

Large-Scale Electrical Systems

Lecture 6: Power System Operations

Prof. Hao Zhu

Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
haozhu@illinois.edu
9/11/2014

1
 Announcements

• HW 1 due today
• HW 2 is assigned, due Sept 18

2
 Power System Operations Overview

• Goal is to provide an intuitive feel for power

system operation
• Emphasis will be on the impact of the
transmission system
• Introduce basic power flow concepts through
small system examples

3
 Power System Basics
• All power systems have three major
components: Generation, Load and
Transmission/Distribution.
• Generation: Creates electric power.
• Load: Consumes electric power.
• Transmission/Distribution: Transmits electric
power from generation to load.
–Lines/transformers operating at voltages above
100 kV are usually called the transmission system.
The transmission system is usually networked.
–Lines/transformers operating at voltages below 4
Metro Chicago Electric Network

5
 Small PowerWorld Simulator Case
Load with
green Bus 2
-20 MW
4 MVR
20 MW
-4 MVR Bus 1
arrows 1.00 PU

indicating
204 MW
102 MVR
Note the
1.00 PU

amount 106 MW power

of MW -34 MW -14 MW
0 MVR
balance at
150 MW AGC ON

flow 116 MVR AVR ON

10 MVR 4 MVR 100 MW
each bus
34 MW 14 MW
-10 MVR -4 MVR
Bus 3 1.00 PU
Home Area
102 MW
Used 150 MW AGC ON
51 MVR

to control 37 MVR AVR ON

output of Direction of arrow is used to indicate

generator direction of real power (MW) flow
PowerWorld Case: B3NewSlow 6
 Basic Power Control
• Opening a circuit breaker causes the power flow to
instantaneously (nearly) change.
• By changing generation we can indirectly change this
flow.
• Power flow in transmission line is limited by heating
considerations
• Losses (I^2 R) can heat up the line, causing it to sag.

7
Overloaded Transmission Line

8
 Interconnected Operation
• Power systems are interconnected across
large distances. For example most of North
America east of the Rockies is one system,
with most of Texas and Quebec being major
exceptions
• Individual utilities only
own and operate a small
portion of the system;
this paradigm is now
more complex with
the advent of ISOs 9
 Balancing Authority (BA) Areas
• Transmission lines that join two areas are known
as tie-lines.
• The net power out of an area is the sum of the
flow on its tie-lines.
• The flow out of an area is equal to

total gen - total load - total losses = tie-flow

10
 Area Control Error (ACE)
• The area control error is the difference between
the actual flow out of an area, and the scheduled
flow
–ACE also includes a frequency component that we
will probably consider later in the semester
• Ideally the ACE should always be zero
• Because the load is constantly changing, each
utility (or ISO) must constantly change its
generation to “chase” the ACE
• ACE was originally computed by utilities;
11
increasingly it is computed by larger
 Automatic Generation Control
• Most utilities (ISOs) use automatic generation
control (AGC) to automatically change their
generation to keep their ACE close to zero.
• Usually the control center calculates ACE based
upon tie-line flows; then the AGC module sends
control signals out to the generators every
couple seconds.

12
 Three Bus Case on AGC

-40 MW 40 MW
Bus 2 8 MVR -8 MVR Bus 1
1.00 PU
266 MW
133 MVR
1.00 PU
101 MW
5 MVR
-77 MW -39 MW
150 MW AGC ON
25 MVR 12 MVR 100 MW
166 MVR AVR ON
78 MW 39 MW
-21 MVR -11 MVR
Bus 3 1.00 PU
Home Area
133 MW
67 MVR
250 MW AGC ON
34 MVR AVR ON

Generation
is automatically
changed to match Net tie flow is
change in load close to zero
13
 Generator Costs
• There are many fixed and variable costs
associated with power system operation
• The major variable cost is associated with
generation.
• Cost to generate a MWh can vary widely
• For some types of units (such as hydro and
nuclear) it is difficult to quantify
• More others such as wind and solar the marginal
cost of energy is essentially zero (actually
negative for wind!)
14
 Economic Dispatch
• Economic dispatch (ED) determines the least
cost dispatch of generation for an area.
• For a lossless system, the ED occurs when all
the generators have equal marginal costs.

IC1(PG,1) = IC2(PG,2) = … = ICm(PG,m)

15
 Power Transactions
• Power transactions are contracts between areas
to do power transactions.
• Contracts can be for any amount of time at any
price for any amount of power.
• Scheduled power transactions are implemented
by modifying the area ACE:

ACE = Pactual,tie-flow - Psched

16
 100 MW Transaction
8 MW -8 MW
Bus 2 -2 MVR 2 MVR Bus 1
1.00 PU
225 MW
113 MVR
1.00 PU
0 MW
32 MVR
-84 MW -92 MW
150 MW AGC ON
27 MVR 30 MVR 100 MW
138 MVR AVR ON
85 MW 93 MW
-23 MVR -25 MVR
Bus 3 1.00 PU
Home Area
113 MW
Net tie-line
Scheduled Transactions
100.0 MW
56 MVR
flow is now
291 MW AGC ON
8 MVR AVR ON 100 MW
Scheduled 100 MW
Transaction from Left to Right
17
 Security Constrained ED
• Transmission constraints often limit system
economics.
• Such limits required a constrained dispatch in
order to maintain system security.
• In three bus case the generation at bus 3 must be
constrained to avoid overloading the line from
bus 2 to bus 3.

18
 Security Constrained Dispatch
-22 MW 22 MW
Bus 2 4 MVR -4 MVR Bus 1
1.00 PU
357 MW
179 MVR
1.00 PU
0 MW
100% 37 MVR
-122 MW
194 MW OFF AGC -142 MW
49 MVR 41 MVR 100 MW
232 MVR AVR ON
145 MW 100% 124 MW
-37 MVR -33 MVR
Bus 3 1.00 PU
Home Area
179 MW
Scheduled Transactions 89 MVR
100.0 MW 448 MW AGC ON
19 MVR AVR ON

Dispatch is no longer optimal due to need to keep line

from bus 2 to bus 3 from overloading
19
 Multi-Area Operation
• If Areas have direct interconnections, then they
may directly transact up to the capacity of their
tie-lines.
• Actual power flows through the entire network
according to the impedance of the transmission
lines.
• Flow through other areas is known as “parallel
path” or “loop flows.”

20
 Seven Bus Case: One-line

System has
44 MW -42 MW -31 MW 31 MW 80 MW
three areas 1.05 PU
3
0.99 PU
4
30 MVR Area Top
1 1.00 PU
62 MW 106 MW -37 MW 110 MW -32 MW
has five
AGC ON 40 MVR
94 MW
buses
Case Hourly Cost AGC ON
38 MW 16933 $/MWH
-14 MW
-61 MW
32 MW
1.04 PU 79 MW -77 MW 1.01 PU
2
Top Area Cost 5
8029 $/MWH
40 MW -39 MW 130 MW
40 MW
20 MVR 40 MVR
168 MW AGC ON
-40 MW 40 MW
20 MW -20 MW
1.04 PU 1.04 PU
6 20 MW 7
-20 MW
Area Left 200 MW
0 MVR Left Area Cost Right Area Cost 200 MW
0 MVR
has one 200 MW AGC ON 4189 $/MWH 4715 $/MWH
201 MW AGC ON Area Right
bus has one bus
PowerWorld Case: B7Flat 21
 Seven Bus Case: Area View

Area Losses
Top 7.09 MW

Actual
40.1 MW
flow
-40.1 MW
0.0 MW
0.0 MW between
System has areas
40 MW of
Scheduled
“Loop Flow”
Left Right flow
Area Losses 40.1 MW Area Losses
0.33 MW 0.0 MW 0.65 MW

Loop flow could result in higher losses

22
 Seven Bus - Loop Flow?

Area Losses
Top 9.44 MW

Note that
4.8 MW
0.0 MW
-4.8 MW Top’s
0.0 MW
Losses have
increased
from
7.09MW to
Left Right
9.44 MW
Area Losses 104.8 MW Area Losses
-0.00 MW 100.0 MW 4.34 MW

100 MW Transaction Transaction has

between Left and Right actually decreased
the loop flow 23
POWER TRANSFER DISTRIBUTION
FACTORS (PTDFS)
• PTDFs are used to show how a particular transaction
will affect the system
• Power transfers through the system according to the
impedances of the lines, without respect to ownership
• All transmission players in network could be impacted,
to a greater or lesser extent
• Later in the semester we’ll consider techniques for
calculating PTDFs

24
 PTDF EXAMPLE - NINE BUS
CASE ACTUAL FLOWS
400.0 MW 400.0 MW 300.0 MW

A B D
250.0 MW
17%
C
58% 34%
51%
41% 42%
45%
6%
G F E
150.0 MW

250.0 MW 250.0 MW
54% 39% 32%

29%
H I

50.0 MW
200.0 MW

PowerWorld Case: B9 25
 PTDF EXAMPLE - PTDFS:
TRANSFER FROM A TO I
400.0 MW 400.0 MW
MW 300.0 MW

A B D
250.0 MW
44%
C
56% 10%
30%
13% 20%
35%
2%
G F E
150.0 MW

250.0 MW 250.0 MW
MW
34% 34% 32%

34%
H I

50.0 MW
200.0 MW
MW

Values now tell percentage of flow that will go on line

26
 PTDF EXAMPLE - PTDFS:
TRANSFER FROM G TO F
400.0 MW 400.0 MW 300.0 MW

A B D
250.0 MW
6%
C
6% 6%
18%
12% 12%
61%
19%
G F E
150.0 MW

250.0 MW 250.0 MW
21% 20%

21%
H I

50.0 MW
200.0 MW

27
Wisconsin to TVA Line PTDF Contour

Contours show lines that would carry at least 2% of

a power transfer from Wisconsin to TVA 28
 NERC Flowgates
• A convenient glossary of terms used for power system
operations in North America is available at
http://www.nerc.com/files/glossary_of_terms.pdf
• One common term is a “flowgate,” which is a
mathematical construct to measure the MW flow on one
or more elements in the bulk transmission system
– Sometimes they include the impact of contingencies,
something we will consider later in the semester
• A simple flowgate would be the MW flow through a
single transmission line or transformer

29
 NERC TLRs
• In the North American Eastern Interconnect (EI)
transmission loading relief procedures (TLRs) are used
to mitigate the overloads on the bulk transmission
system
• TLRs consider the PTDFs associated with transactions
on flowgates if there is a flowgate violation

30
 Loop Flow Impact:
Market Segmentation
OTP
UPA
MP

UPP During summer

WAPA
NSP
WPS

ONT HYDR
NYPP
NEPOOL
of 1998 con-
gestion on just
DPC
SMP
MGE DECO

WEP
WPL CONS
IPW
PENELEC PP&L
MEC

two elements
NI TE PSE&G
CEI OE
DLCO PJM500
MPW CILCO NIPS JCP&L
NPPD OPPD AEP PECO

IP METED
IESC AE
CWLP DPL BG&E
IPL

pushed Midwest
AP
CIPS CIN PEPCO DPL
STJO MIPU HE
MIDW KACY
SUNC IMPA OVEC

VP
KACP EMO SIGE BREC
WERE

spot market
INDN SIPC EKPC
KU
LGE
EEI
ASEC
WEPL YADKIN
DOE CPLW
EMDE
GRRD

prices up by a
OMPA SPRM
DUKE CPLE

WEFA T V A
KAMO
SWPA HARTWELL

SWPS SEPA-JST

factor of 200:
OKGE
PSOK
SCE&G
SOUTHERN SCPSA

ENTR SEPA-RBR

from $ 20/MWh
AEC
SWEP

EQ-ERCOT JEA

to $ 7500/MWh!
LAFA SMEPA
TAL
SEC
CELE
CAJN FPL

FPC

Large price rises have occurred in 1999 and 2000 as well

31
 Pricing Electricity
• Incremental cost to supply electricity to bus is
called the locational marginal price (LMP)
• Presently some electric makets post LMPs on
the web
• In an ideal electricity market with no
transmission limitations the LMPs are equal
• Transmission constraints can segment a market,
resulting in differing LMP
• Determination of LMPs requires the solution on
an Optimal Power Flow (OPF)
32
 3 BUS LMPS - OVERLOAD IGNORED
60 MW 60 MW
Bus 2 Bus 1
10.00 $/MWh
Gen 2’s Gen 1’s
cost cost
0 MW 10.00 $/MWh
is $12 is $10
120 MW 180 MW
per 120% per
MWh 0 MW MWh
60 MW
120% 120 MW
Total Cost 60 MW
1800 $/hr
Bus 3 10.00 $/MWh
180 MW

0 MW

Line from Bus 1 to Bus 3 is over-loaded; all

buses have same marginal cost
PowerWorld Case: B3LP 33
 LINE OVERLOAD ENFORCED

20 MW 20 MW
Bus 2 Bus 1
10.00 $/MWh

60 MW 12.00 $/MWh
100 MW 120 MW
80% 100%
0 MW
80 MW
80% 100% 100 MW
Total Cost 80 MW
1921 $/hr
Bus 3 14.01 $/MWh
180 MW

0 MW

Line from 1 to 3 is no longer overloaded, but now

the marginal cost of electricity at 3 is $14 / MWh 34
 MISO LMPs
Five
minute
LMPs
are
posted
online
for the
MISO
footprint

Source: https://www.misoenergy.org/LMPContourMap/MISO_MidWest.html 35
MISO LMP Volatility!

This
is how
the LMP
contour
looked
for the
next 5
minute
update!

36