Impact of hybrid wind and hydroelectric power generation on the operational performance of isolated power systems

In recent years, electric power systems are adopting new technologies in their structure in order to achieve better performance and efficiency in the electricity production. transmission and distribution. This fact together with additional financial incentives being developed in many countries have increased considerably the number of power generating units using renewable energy sources. However, a major drawback of these units is their dependency on unexpected weather conditions such as the wind speed and the rainfalls in the respective hydrologic areas. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of wind parks and hydroelectric power plants on the reliability and operational performance of isolated power systems. A probabilistic methodology has been developed for simulating more efficiently and realistically the reliability and operational performance of these power systems. This is an effective computational methodology that is based on the Monte-Carlo sequential simulation approach and it evaluates the reliability and operational indices of the conventional thermal and hydroelectric power plants, the wind parks and the overall indices of the system. An appropriate model based on the power system of a Greek island is used and the obtained results are presented for a number of case studies representing various planning and operating schemes in order to deduce the optimal one. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.