An optimal reactive power dispatch model for deregulated electricity markets

This paper proposes a reactive power dispatch model that takes into account both the technical and economical aspects associated with reactive power provision in the context of the new operating paradigms in deregulated electricity markets. The main objective of the proposed model is to minimize the total amount of dollars paid by the system operator to the generators for providing the required reactive power support. The real power generation is decoupled and assumed fixed during the reactive power dispatch procedures; however, due to the effect of reactive power on real power, real power generation is allowed be re-scheduled within given limits. The 32-bus CIGRE benchmark system is used to illustrate the proposed reactive power dispatch technique. The developed model is generic in nature and can be adopted for any electricity market structure.