Development of an Optimization Model to Manage Imbalances in Power Systems by Local Power Retail Companies

The feed-in tariff (FIT) programs resulted in rapid growth of renewable power sources in various countries. In Japan, the program particularly triggered explosive growth of solar power generations because of its short lead-time and high tariff level. Although mass introduction of renewable power sources certainly contributes to reduce CO2 emissions, it causes serious instability issues in power systems. One of the most serious issues is management of imbalances resulting from forecast errors in solar power generations. These imbalances must be compensated so as to keep stable operation in power systems. On the other hand, local power retail companies are increasing nowadays in various countries including Japan. These companies are mainly procuring renewable power sources such as solar power systems.Taking these circumstances into consideration, this article aims at exploring measures to manage the imbalances of power systems by local power retail companies. For this purpose, we developed a model in mixed integer linear programming to operate power systems dealing with the imbalances. Evaluated results using the model indicated the followings; appropriate adoption of stationary or home batteries is shown to economically compensate the imbalances by local power retail companies