A competitive generating company (GENCO) could maximize its payoff by optimizing its generation assets. This paper considers the GENCO's arbitrage problem using price-based unit commitment (PBUC). The GENCO could consider arbitrage opportunities in purchases from qualifying facilities (QFs) as well as simultaneous trades with spots markets for energy, ancillary services, emission, and fuel. Given forecasted hourly market prices for each market, the GENCO's generating asset arbitrage problem is formulated as a mixed integer program (MIP) and solved by a branch-and-cut algorithm. A GENCO with 54 thermal and 12 combined-cycle units is considered for analyzing the proposed formulation. The proposed case studies illustrate the significance of simultaneous arbitrage by applying PBUC to multi-commodity markets.

This paper proposes methods to incorporate station related aging failures in composite system reliability assessment. Aging failures of station components, such as circuit breakers and bus bars, are a major concern in composite power system planning and operation as an increasing number of station components approach the wear-out phase. This paper presents probabilistic models for circuit breakers involving aging failures and relevant evaluation techniques to examine the effects of station related aging outages. The technique developed to incorporate station related aging failures are illustrated by application to a small composite test system. The paper illustrates the effects of circuit breaker aging outages on bulk system reliability evaluation and examines the relative effects of variations in component age. System sensitivity analysis is illustrated by varying selected component parameters. The results show the implications of including component aging failure considerations in the overall analysis of a composite system.

In this paper, an improved maintenance scheduling approach suitable for the competitive environment is proposed by taking account of profits and costs of generation companies and the formulated combinatorial optimization problem is solved by using Reactive Tabu search (RTS). In competitive power markets, electricity prices are determined by the balance between demand and supply through electric power exchanges or by bilateral contracts. Therefore, in decision makings, it is essential for system operation planners and market participants to take the volatility of electricity price into consideration. In the proposed maintenance scheduling approach, firstly, electricity prices over the targeted period are forecasted based on Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and also a newly proposed aggregated bidding curve. Secondary, the maintenance scheduling is formulated as a combinatorial optimization problem with a novel objective function by which the most profitable maintenance schedule would be attained. As an objective function, Opportunity Loss by Maintenance (OLM) is adopted to maximize the profit of generation companies (GENCOS). Thirdly, the combinatorial optimization maintenance scheduling problem is solved by using Reactive Tabu Search in the light of the objective functions and forecasted electricity prices. Finally, the proposed maintenance scheduling is applied to a practical test power system to verify the advantages and practicability of the proposed method.

Hydrogen, as a future energy source, is thought as an alternative of fossil fuel in view of environment and energy security. Hydrogen has the properties of both fuel and electricity so that it can make the energy paradigm shift in the future. Therefore, researches on hydrogen in power system area are essential and urgent due to their huge effects on current paradigm. In this paper, the visions and technical challenges of hydrogen in power system are reviewed as energy storage, dispersed generation (DG), DC generator, and combined heat and power (CHP).

In conventional small signal stability analysis, the system is assumed to be invariant and the state space equations are used to calculate the eigenvalues of the state matrix. However, when a system contains switching elements such as FACTS equipments, it becomes a non-continuous system. In this case, a mathematically rigorous approach to system small signal stability analysis is performed by means of eigenvalue analysis of the system's periodic transition matrix based on the discrete system analysis method. In this paper, the RCF (Resistive Companion Form) method is used to analyze the small signal stability of a non-continuous system including switching elements. Applying the RCF method to the differential and integral equations of the power system, generator, controllers and FACTS equipments including switching devices should be modeled in the form of state transition equations. From this state transition matrix, eigenvalues that are mapped into unit circles can be computed precisely.

Earth equipments are essential to protect humans and other types of equipment from abnormal conditions. Earth resistance and potential must be restricted within a low value. An estimation algorithm of earth parameters and equivalent resistivity is introduced to calculate reliable earth resistance in this research. The proposed algorithm is based on the relationship between apparent resistances and earth parameters. The proposed algorithm, which approximates the non-linear characteristics of earth by using the Artificial Neural Network (ANN), estimates the earth parameters and equivalent resistivity. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified with case studies.

This research investigates the influences of distributed generations (DG), which are interconnected to the bus by the dedicated lines, on the overcurrent relays (OCR) of the neighboring distribution feeders and also proposes a novel method to reduce the negative effects on the feeder protection. Due to the grid connected DG, the entire short-circuit capacity of the distribution networks increases, which may raise the current of the distribution feeder during normal operations as well as fault conditions. In particular, during the switching period for loop operation, the current level of the distribution feeder can be larger than the pickup value for the fault of the feeder's OCR, thereby causing the OCR to perform a mal-operation. This paper proposes the adaptive setting algorithm for the OCR of the distribution feeders having the neighboring dedicated feeders for the DG to prevent the mal-operations of the OCR under normal conditions. The proposed method changes the pickup value of the OCR by adapting the power output of the DG monitored at the relaying point in the distribution network. We tested the proposed method with the actual distribution network model of the Hoenggye substation at the Korea Electric Power Co., which is composed of five feeders supplying the power to network loads and two dedicated feeders for the wind turbine generators. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed adaptive protection method could enhance the conventional OCR of the distribution feeders with the neighboring dedicated lines for the DG.

To meet increasing power demand, 500 kV power systems are under consideration in the regions of some Middle Asian countries. As the power system voltage becomes higher, the cost for the power system insulation increases significantly. 500 kV transmission systems will become the basis of a region's power system and they require much higher system reliability. Consequently, by the methods of limiting overvoltages effectively, a reasonable insulation design and coordination must be accomplished. In particular, the Substations must be constructed to be of outdoor type. In order to determine the various factors for the insulation design, the EMTP (Electro-magnetic transient program) is used for the magnification of transient phenomena of the 500 kV systems in the planned network. In this paper, we will explain the calculation results of lightning overvoltages by the EMTP for lightning protection design for the 500 kV substations. To obtain reliable results, the multi-story tower model and EMTP/TACS model are introduced for the simulation of dynamic arc characteristics.

Congestion problems of transmission lines are very important research issues in power system operations. Load curtailment is one of the ways to solve congestion problems by a major contingency. A systematic and effective mechanism for load shedding has been developed by investigating congestion distribution factors and the direct load control program. In this paper, a load shedding algorithm using linear programming for congestion problems by a major contingency is presented. In order to show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, it has been tested on the 6-bus sample system and the power system of Korea, and their results are presented.

This paper proposes a new series and parallel Sin+Cos PSS (power system stabilizer) for the purpose of improving the existing PSS1A's performance. The purpose of the PSS is to enhance the damping of power system oscillations through injection of auxiliary signals for an excitation control terminal. The proposed series and parallel Sin+Cos PSS is connected adding the Sin+Cos terms additionally with the serial and parallel connection in a conventional PSS1A. The proposed controller is aimed at considering the damping of oscillation when it changes parameter fluctuations or operational load variations in a power system. The electric power system used is the KEPCO system and the voltage of the power transmission line is 154kV and 345kV. The PSCAD/EMTDC package is used to authorize the effect of the proposed controller. Simulations were shown by and compared with the waveforms for frequency, voltage and electric power.

Power transformers would appear to be simple. However, due to their nonlinear and frequency-dependent behaviors, they can be one of the most complex system components to model. It is imperative that the applied models be appropriate for the range of frequencies and excitation levels that the system experiences. Transformer modeling is not a mature field and newer improved models must be made available in ATP packages. Further, there is a lack of published guidance on recommended modeling approaches. And there is typically not enough detailed design or test information available to determine the parameters for a given model. The purpose of this paper is to develop improved transformer core models for ATP and parameter estimation methods that can efficiently utilize the limited available information such as factory test reports.

The most widely used index for the vulnerable area investigation has been the reactive power margin or sensitivity analysis. But we can only obtain the results of these analyses if the results of load flow are convergent in severe contingencies. Otherwise these methods are not adoptable. This paper presents a good index for overcoming severe contingencies, though the power flow equation is unsolvable using the branch parameter continuation power flow. In simulation, the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) Systems are applied.

In an electricity market with imperfect competition, participants devise bidding plans and transaction strategies to maximize their own profits. The market price and the quantity are concerned with the operation reserve as well as the bidding system and demand curves in an electricity market. This paper presents a market model combined by an energy market and an operating reserve market. The competition of the generation producers in the combined market is formulated as a gaming of selecting bid parameters such as intersections and slopes in bid functions. The Nash Equilibrium (NE) is analyzed by using bi-level optimization; maximization of Social Welfare (SW) and maximization of the producers' profits.

At present, the Cournot model is one of the most commonly used theories to analyze the gaming situation in an oligopoly type market. However, several problems exist in the successful application of this model to the electricity market. The representative one is obtaining the inverse demand curve able to be induced from the relationship between market price and demand response. In the Cournot model, each player offers their generation quantity to obtain maximum profit, which is accomplished by reducing their quantity compared with available total capacity. As stated above, to obtain the probable Cournot equilibrium to reflect the real market situation, we have to induce the correct demand function first of all. Usually the correlation between price and demand appears over the long-term through statistical data analysis (for example, regression analysis) or by investigating consumer utility functions of several consumer groups classified as residential, industrial, and commercial. However, the elasticity has a tendency to change continuously according to the total market demand size or the level of market price. Therefore it should be updated as the trading period passes by. In this paper we propose a method for inducing and updating this price elasticity of demand function for more realistic market equilibrium.

The recent requirement for faster and more frequent solutions has encouraged the consideration of parallel implementations using decentralized processors. Distributed multi-processor environments can potentially greatly increase the available computational capacity and decrease the communication burden, allowing for faster Optimal Power Flow (OPF) solutions. This paper presents a mathematical approach to implementing distributed OPF using the alternating direction method (ADM) to parallelize the OPF. Several IEEE Reliability Test Systems were adopted to demonstrate the proposed algorithm.

At present, the Korean electricity industry is undergoing restructuring and the Cost Based-generation Pool (CBP) market is being operated in preparation of a Two Way Bidding Pool (TWBP) market. In deregulated electricity industries, an integrated power market simulator is one of the tools that can be used by market participants and market operators analyzing market behaviors and studying market structures and market codes. In this regard, it is very important to develop an electricity market simulator that reflects market code providing a market operation mechanism. This paper presents the development of an integrated market simulator, called the Power Exchange Simulator (PEXSIM), which is designed to imitate the Korean electricity market considering the various features of the market operating mechanism such as uniform price and constrained on/off payment. The PEXSIM is developed in VB.NET and composed of five modules whose titles are M-SIM, P-SIM, O-SIM, T-SIM and G-SIM interfacing the Access database program. To verify the features and the performance of the PEXSIM, a small Two Way bidding market with a 12-bus system and a One Way bidding market for generator competition will be presented for the electricity market simulations using PEXSIM.