TITLE:
Technical and Economical Merits of Power Systems Interconnection
AUTHORS:
Abdullah M. Al-Shaalan
KEYWORDS:
Reliability Index; Power System; Cost; Interconnection
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Power and Energy Engineering,
Vol.1 No.4,
October
15,
2013
ABSTRACT:
This work aims at exploring the
effects of the interconnection between isolated electric power systems upon
some important aspects
such as enhancing
reliability levels along with reducing installation and operation costs. To discern the advantages
associated with this study, the developed methodology has been applied to three
existing power systems in the northern region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
presently within the concession domain of the Saudi Electric Company (SEC).
These systems have been established to meet the present loads and to withstand future electrical demands for a period of time before
additional generation and transmission reinforcements are needed. In this work,
reliability measures
have been utilized to determine
the period that these systems can fulfill the present and future loads without
affecting the reliability levels and the threshold that an additional capacity
should be added to maintain those required reliability levels. In application
to the reliability criteria, technical, operational and economic advantages can
be realized, i.e., higher reliability levels and lower
installation and operation costs after the proposed interconnection between these
selected isolated power systems take place.