Third NSF Workshop on US-Africa
Research and Education Collaboration
Abuja, Nigeria, December 13-15, 2004
TECHNOLOGY &
ENVIRONMENT
ENERGY &
EDUCATION
Available Transfer Capability
Determination
Chen-Ching Liu and Guang Li
University of Washington
Overview
• Background of Available Transfer Capability
(ATC)
• Definitions of ATC
• Determination of ATC
• Examples of ATC in Nigerian NEPA 330kV Grid
• Optimization Technique to Calculate ATC
• Stability-Constrained ATC Calculation Method
• Conclusions
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Background
• ATC is the transmission limit for reserving
and scheduling energy transactions in
competitive electricity markets.
• Accurate evaluation of ATC is essential to
maximize utilization of existing
transmission grids while maintaining
system security.
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Transmission Service Types
• Recallable transmission service:
Transmission service that a transmission
provider can interrupt in whole or in part.
• Non-recallable transmission service:
Transmission service that cannot be
interrupted by a provider for economic
reasons, but that can be curtailed for
reliability.
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ATC Under Operating
Constraints
• Transfer capability must be evaluated
based on the most limiting factor.
Power Flow Stability Limit
A to B (MW)
Voltage Limit
Thermal Limit
Total Transfer
Capability
Time
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Available Transfer Capability (ATC) (North
American Electric Reliability Council)
MW
A->B Total Transfer
TRM
Transmission Capability (TTC)
Reliability Margin
TRM Nonrecallable
ATC
Recallable
Recallable ATC Nonrecallable
ATC
Available
Recallable Transfer
Recallable Capability
Scheduled
Nonrecallable Reserved
Reserved
Nonrecallable
Nonrecallable Reserved
Scheduled
Time
Operating Horizon Planning Horizon
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Definition of ATC
• ATC = TTC – TRM – Existing
Transmission Commitments (including
CBM)
• Transmission Transfer Capability Margins
– Transmission Reliability Margin (TRM)
– Capacity Benefit Margin (CBM)
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Transmission Reliability Margin
(TRM)
• Uncertainty exists in future system
topology, load demand and power
transactions
• TRM is kind of a safety margin to ensure
reliable system operation as system
conditions change.
• TRM could be 8% or 10% of the TTC
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Capacity Benefit Margin (CBM)
• CBM is reserved by load serving entities to
ensure access to generation from
interconnected systems to meet
generation reliability requirements.
• Intended only for the time of emergency
generation deficiencies
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State of the Art: ATC Methods
ATC Methods Description
DC Power Flow Model,
Linear Approximation Method
Thermal Limit Only
AC Power Flow Model,
Optimal Power Flow Method
Thermal Limit + Voltage Limit
AC Power Flow Model,
Continuation Power Flow Method Thermal Limit + Voltage Limit
(Voltage Collapse)
Time Domain Simulations
Stability-Constrained ATC Method
with Dynamic Model
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First Contingency Incremental Transfer
Capability (FCITC) & First Contingency Total
Transfer Capability (FCTTC)
FCITC
FCTTC
BASE POWER
TRANSFERS
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Total Transfer Capability (TTC)
• System Conditions
• Critical Contingencies
• Parallel Path Flows
• Non-Simultaneous and Simultaneous
Transfers
• System Limits
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Procedure to Calculate TTC
• Start with a base case power flow
• Increase generation in area A and increase
demand in area B by the same amount
• Check the thermal, stability and voltage
constraints.
• Evaluate the first contingency event and ensure
that the emergency operating limits are met.
• When the emergency limit is reached for a first
contingency, the corresponding (pre-
contingency) transfer amount from area A to
area B is the TTC.
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Example 1: 2-Area NEPA 330kV
Grid
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2-Area Base-Case Tie Flow
Single transmission line contingency
Notation No thermal limit (assumed 120% base case
flow) reached
First thermal limit reached
4.64 MW
Tie Line 21 23
Flow
Area 1 Area 2
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Area 1 to Area 2 ATC Calculation
> 4.64 MW
Increasing Increasing
21 23
Generation Demand
P MW P MW
Area 1 Area 2
Increased 4.96 MW Increased
7-25
Generation 21 23 Demand
2-8
0.32 MW 0.32 MW
FCTTC
Area 1 Area 2
FCITC Third US-Africa Research and
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Area 2 to Area 1 ATC Calculation
< 4.64 MW
Increasing Increasing
21 23
Demand Generation
P MW P MW
Area 1 Area 2
Increased 4.54 MW Increased
Demand 21 23 5-24 Generation
7-25
0.1 MW 0.1 MW
FCTTC
Area 1 Area 2
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2-Area ATC Calculation
Direction Area 1 to Area 2 Area 2 to Area 1
Critical Line 7-25 (Delta- Line 7-25 (Delta-
Contingency Aladja) Aladja)
Thermal
Line 2-8 (Jebba Line 5-24 (Alam-
Limit
G.S.-Jebba T.S.) Aba)
Reached
FCTTC 4.96 MW 4.54MW
FCITC 0.32 MW 0.1 MW
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Example 2: 4-Area NEPA 300kV
Grid
AREA 1
AREA 3
AREA 2
AREA 4
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4-Area Base-Case Tie Flows
Area 1
8.5 MW 8.24 MW
16.6 MW 4.64 MW
Area 4 Area 3 Area 2
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Area 3 to Area 1 ATC calculation
(Example of Parallel Path Flows)
Increased Area 1 FCTTC = 9.1+ 8.65 =
Demand 17.75 MW
1.01 MW FCITC = 17.75 (8.5
+ 8.24) = 1.01 MW
9.1 MW 8.65 MW
17.2 MW 4.64 MW
1-7
7-25 Increased
Generation
Area 4 Area 3 1.01 MW Area 2
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Area 4 to Area 2 Simultaneous ATC with a Pre-
existing Area 3 to Area 1 17.75 MW Transfer
Area 1 FCTTC = 16.99
(17.2) = 0.21 MW
FCITC = 4.85 4.64
= 0.21 MW
9.1 MW 8.65 MW
Increased
Generation 16.99 MW
0.21 MW 4.85 MW
4-10
7-25 Increased
Demand
Area 4 0.21 MW
Area 3 Area 2
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Optimization Technique to
Calculate ATC
sum of generation in
Objective: max ΔP
iarea A
i sending area A
Subject to x f ( x, y ) - system dynamic behavior
0 g ( x, y ) - power flow equations
0 Pi Pi Pi max - active power output
F max F ( x, y ) F max - thermal limit
V min V V max - voltage profile
EM ( x, y ) 0 - energy margin
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Stability-Constrained ATC
Time Domain Simulation
(ETMSP)
System trajectory
Second-Kick based
Second-Kick based
Energy Margin Computation
Energy Margin Computation
Yes
ATC
ATC (EM = 0) ?
(EM = 0) ?
No
Energy Margin Sensitivity
Energy Margin Sensitivity
Analysis with BFGS Method
Analysis with BFGS Method
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Generation Adjustment
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Generation Workshop
Adjustment 24
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Second-kick-based energy margin
computation
- Simulation Perform time-domain simulation
Obtain system trajectory following a pre-specified
- Trajectory disturbance sequence
Compute potential energy of first- and
- Potential energy second-kick trajectories
Potential energy difference at the respective peaks
- Energy margin of the first- and second-kick disturbances
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Energy margin sensitivity
computation
• Determine the search direction with the
Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno (BFGS)
method
EM
( k )
S1
(k )
P
m,1
S (k ) D(k )
S n( k ) EM
( k )
Pm, n
D is an approximation to the inverse of Hessian matrix
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Generation adjustment
Pm ,1 1 S1
(k ) ( k ) 1
Pm ,1
EM k p
- Adjustment
Pm ,n n( k ) S n( k )
1
Pm ,n
Pmnew
,1
P old
m ,1
Pm ,1
- Update
Pmnew P old
Pm ,n
, n m , n
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2-Area Test System
• Net power transferred from area A to area B
in the base case = 453 MW
Area A Area B
453 MW
1 10 101 120 110 11 G11
G1 20
3 13
2 12
G2 G12
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Stability-Constrained ATC Results
Power Transfer Pm , k EM Pm ,k
Iteration sk k
(Area AArea B) Gen. Pm , k
(MW) (MW)
& Energy Margin
1 453 MW G1 666 1.9008 1.9008 0.5333 3.745
EM = 13.35 G2 754 1.4688 1.4688 0.4667 4.242
2 461 MW G1 669.745 1.1483 1.1483 0.5161 4.935
EM = 10.98 G2 758.242 0.9503 0.9503 0.4838 5.59
3 471.6 MW G1 674.68 0.4748 1.4562 0.3757 2.833
EM = 5.50 G2 763.832 0.0864 2.136 0.6242 3.208
4 477.6 MW G1 677.51 System goes unstable with -1.417
EM = N/A st
G2 767.04 the 1 kick disturbance. -1.604
5 474.6 MW G1 676.094 1.8204 1.8204 0.4809 0.587
EM = 2.22 G2 765.436 1.7345 1.7345 0.5191 0.665
6 475.8 MW G1 676.681 2.4251 2.4251 0.5125 0.047
EM = 0.22 G2 766.101 2.0364 2.0364 0.4875 0.054
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Conclusions
• ATC provides a reasonable and dependable
indication of available transfer capabilities in electric
power markets.
• ATC considers reasonable uncertainties in system
conditions and provides operating flexibility for the
secure operation of the interconnected network.
• The effects of simultaneous transfers and parallel
path flows are studied.
• Need for ATC calculation method to incorporate
voltage, angle stability limits as well as thermal
limits.
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References
[1] North American Electric Reliability Council,
“Available Transfer Capability Definitions and
Determination”, June 1996.
[2] North American Electric Reliability
Council,“Transmission Transfer Capability”, May
1995.
[3] S. K. Joo, C. C. Liu, Y. Shen, Z. Zabinsky and
J. Lawarree, “Optimization Techniques for
Available Transfer Capability (ATC) and Market
Calculations,” IMA Journal of Management
Mathematics (2004) 15, 321-337.
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