The assessment of the impacts of the security management in a competitive environment

Security management is of the utmost importance in power system and many efforts have been made on this issue since a reliable supply of electricity is crucial to the modern societies. The traditional approach adopted in Europe is based on the “n − 1” steady-state security that is efficient, although restrictive, and can continue to play an important role also in the new competitive context. In this paper, three alternative market-based models for security consideration are introduced, according to preventive and corrective control approaches. The models are presented and analyzed in terms of their economic impacts on the market throughout a set of useful indexes that allows for a ranking of the advantages got from the re-enforcement of the lines. Moreover, the positive impacts of the phase-shifter (PS) installation for the security and congestion management are quantified and indexes are derived to assess their optimal location. The different models and the exploitation of the proposed indexes are illustrated with reference to a 34-bus test system. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.