Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Electricity markets in North America have been restructured in steps over the past decade to facilitate trade in real power and ancillary services such as reactive power supply, spinning reserve, etc. Though real power markets to trade in electric energy have been established, components of ancillary services are yet to be unbundled and traded independently. Reactive power service is a component of ancillary services and its optimization includes scheduling (pricing) and planning. Approaches to delivering this service must undergo a paradigm shift because power systems have been restructured from a vertically integrated model to an 'open-access' deregulated model. The older structure focused on transmission loss minimization as an incentive whereas the newer structure depends upon the sale of reactive power to provide return on investments. Key security concerns such as provision of adequate voltage stability margins and dynamic reactive power reserves must be considered in the new structure. Other pressing issues that must be addressed pertaining to reactive power service include apportioning of its costs, accounting for wheeling costs and formulation of a planning mechanism. The goal of my proposed research program is to investigate and develop robust methods for pricing and planning of the ancillary service of reactive power supply in electricity markets while ensuring stability. This objective arises from my research focus on reactive power optimization and the needs of evolving electricity markets. I propose to study and develop methods for security constrained reactive power optimization in restructured power systems to address the concerns raised above. First, I will study and develop a security constrained reactive power scheduling method for electricity markets and evolve a pricing scheme. Secondly, I will develop a cost measure to maintain adequate voltage stability, which will be used to develop a reactive power planning method for power grids based on an appropriate pricing scheme. Thirdly, I propose to develop a plan for reactive power compensation in distribution systems connected to restructured power systems.