RELIABILITY EVALUATION OF A WIND INTEGRATED POWER SYSTEM WITH COMPRESSED AIR ENERGY STORAGE

World-wide environmental concerns about green-house gas emissions from conventional generation sources have led to an increase in renewable energy penetration in electric power systems. Wind energy as a form of renewable power generation is environmentally friendly and suitable for bulk power generation. Wind power sources however, are intermittent and stochastic in nature and their increased penetration in the electric power system will introduce major challenges to reliable planning and operation of electric power systems. Energy storage systems are receiving considerable attention as potential means to adequately harness the benefits from wind power by absorbing the variability and reducing or eliminating the uncertainty in renewable power generation. This thesis is focused on compressed air energy storage (CAES) which has a high potential to be used on a grid scale. The ability of the CAES to absorb the variability and mitigate the uncertainty associated with wind energy is explored. The development of a suitable reliability model for the operation of the CAES is presented which proposes a hybrid approach by integrating a Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) method with an analytical technique. The MCS technique is used to model the state of charge (SOC) of the CAES during the charging operation while recognizing the time chronology and the correlation between the variation in the wind, the load and the SOC of the storage. The analytical technique utilizes a period analysis to quantitatively assess the system adequacy for the diurnal and seasonal sub-periods under consideration. The diurnal analysis with sub-periods within a day captures the operation of the CAES on a daily cycle. The assumption is made that a seasonal period consists of a number of days with similar diurnal profile. This thesis presents the reliability and economic benefits of CAES being utilized in a number of ways to meet different objectives. The CAES can be operated in coordination with the wind resources to absorb the variability of wind power to promote renewable energy utilization in the system. A merchant owned CAES operated in an electricity market tries to exploit short term price difference to maximize profit from energy arbitrage. Different scenarios and operating strategies are used to investigate these objectives in this thesis. An energy management strategy for an annual study is developed and tested using appropriate data. The strategy divides the year into different seasons, and low cost energy is transferred from the off-peak season to the peak season. The effect of energy management is examined with respect to monetary profit and reliability improvement. Results obtained in this thesis and the conclusions drawn can be a valuable source of information to help utilities in effective and efficient planning of their systems considering CAES