Multi-area reliability evaluation including frequency and duration indices with multiple time varying load curves

The reliability evaluation of multi-area systems is part of the expansion planning process of a power system. In order to accurately estimate the system and areas reliability indices, especially the frequency and duration (F&D) indices, the dynamic behavior of system components must be adequately represented with particular attention to the variation of each area load. Nowadays, the most efficient methods for multi-area reliability evaluation do not represent the chronological aspects of the different areas loads. The method that directly considers these aspects is the sequential Monte Carlo simulation, however requiring a high computational effort. This paper presents the application of some methods that represent the chronological aspects of the load to the reliability evaluation of multi-area systems and evaluates their performance and accuracy. The main purpose is to obtain a model for multi-area reliability evaluation that represents the different load curve of each area and accurately estimates the F&D indices. Results obtained by the studied methods are presented for two systems, one composed of two areas and the other based on a representation of the Brazilian interconnected power system with four areas. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.