Improving simultaneous scheduling of primary reserve and energy utilizing fast ramp rate capability of generating units

Abstract

Primary frequency regulation, as an ancillary service, is usually supported by generation reserves. Modern generating units have special technical features; e.g. their governor operation mode can be selected, their ramp rate can be selected to be either normal or fast, etc. On the other hand, there are some technical constraints; e.g. some generating units cannot participate in primary frequency control at their capacity limits. In this paper, operational technical features and constraints of generating units are incorporated in a"simultaneous scheduling of energy and primary reserve" problem. To obtain the optimal scheduling, a heuristic iterative method based on genetic algorithm is proposed. The role of fast ramp rate and other capabilities and constraints on scheduling are investigated through simulation studies. Simulation results show that taking fast ramp rate of generating units into account not only reduces the total operation cost, but will also end up with a feasible solution, even in cases where previously proposed methods fail. Also, simulation results indicate that using fast ramp rate, results in the reduction of both the price of electricity and its volatility.