The DIGESEC CRIS Workshop, Magdeburg, Germany, Dec.

6-8, 2006

DISTRIBUTED GENERATION IN ELECTRIC POWER SYSTEMS

N.I. Voropai Energy Systems Institute, Irkutsk, Russia

Introduction In the 20th century electric power industry in the economically developed countries including the former USSR developed vigorously mainly by increasing the centralization of power supply when constructing more powerful facilities (power plants, transmission lines). This resulted in formation of spatially distributed extended electric power systems (EPS) which allowed one to get an essential economic benefit, increase reliability of power supply and improve power quality [1,2. etc.]. Since the beginning of the 20th century the technologies of conventional steam turbines for thermal and nuclear power plants have developed towards the use of higher steam parameters which called for more advanced materials for boilers and turbines. There was also a trend toward increase in the unit capacity of the turbines. All the above made it possible to improve their technical and economic parameters: specific capital investments and fixed costs per unit of capacity and specific fuel consumption per unit of electricity produced. This trend towards aggregation of units was also observed in hydro power industry, though to a lesser extent. In the 1980s this trend changed radically with the advent of highly efficient (up to 55-60%) gas turbines (GT) and combined-cycle units (CCU) widely varying in capacity including those small with a capacity from units to 1-2 tens of MW. A distinctive feature of such units, particularly of those small, is their high factory readiness which allows their commissioning within a year [3-5]. Simultaneously, a large assortment of mini and micro gas turbines (from a fraction of kW to several tens of kW) emerged. The use of small GT started for construction of GT cogeneration plants for combined generation of electricity and heat. Small scale energy includes also many types of energy units based on renewable energy sources (RES) first of all wind turbines (WT) [6,7]. Small GT, CCU and WT are installed directly at consumers and connected to the 6-35 kV distribution network. These units are called distributed generation [8-10, etc.]. The main factors stimulating the development of distributed generation are:

Adaptation of consumers to market uncertainty in electric power industry development and electricity prices which fosters a decrease in risks of power shortage and increase of energy security; Enhancement of adaptability of EPSs themselves to the uncertainty of market conditions in the economy and, thus, a decrease of the investment risks; Emergence of new highly efficient energy technologies (GT and CCU); A growing share of gas in fuel mix of power plants; Tightening the environmental requirements to encourage the use of RES (hydro, wind, biomass, etc.), at a government support.

Scales of expansion Small gas turbine cogeneration plants (GT CPs) are expanding rather vigorously. In particular, the total capacity of GT CPs (first of all those of small capacity) is predicted to grow from 74 GW in 2000 to 91-135 GW in 2010 and 124-195 GW in 2020 (depending on energy policy of the EU), which makes up 12% of the total generation capacity of the EU countries in 2000, 13-18% - in 2010, 15-22% - in 2020 [11]. In Russia even now small GT CPs turn out to be rather efficient. Expansion of gazification to mediumsized and small cities and urban-type communities, creation of a market for highly economical small GT CPs, that can be constructed or repaired very fast, provide their active involvement in the mix of generation capacities in the regions of the country. For example in the Astrakhan region at a current generation of 1060 MW it is planned to commission 550 MW electric capacity by 2020 including 65.5 MW of GT CPs and in a more remote future their potential may reach 185-200 MW. The Tomsk region at a current generation level of 1804 MW is planning to commission 246 MW by 2020 including 130 MW (53%) of small GT CP to be furnished with domestic equipment [12]. Estimates show that in the future the potentialities of constructing small GT CPs instead of inefficient obsolete boiler plants in the cities and settlements may

make up the total electric capacity of 100 GW with their number of 12900 pcs with an average unit capacity of 7-8 MW and in the maximum case 175 GW, 84 000 pcs, with an average unit capacity of 2-3 MW [12]. Realistic predictions give 25-35 GW for the country as a whole by 2020 and 35-50 GW by 2050 of small GT CPs, i.e. up to 10-15% of the total installed generation capacity [13]. Over the past years RES have been widely used for electricity production in many countries. WestEuropean countries are planning to increase electricity

production from RES by 2010 on the average by more than 10%, particularly through the use of wind energy (Fig. 1) [6]. Currently the total installed capacity of wind turbines operating in the world is more than 40 GW [14], the largest in capacity wind turbine, 4.5 MW, is constructed in Germany [15]. Most of the wind turbines are located in European countries Germany, Denmark, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Italy. Russia also has a wind energy potential [4,7].

Great Britain

Netherlands

Luxemburg

Denmark

Germany

Belgium

Portugal

Sweden

Finland

Austria

Greece

Ireland

France

Spain

Italy

Figure 1. Electricity production from RES (except for large HPP) in 1997 and forecast for 2010 It should be noted that in 2000 there were 12 wind turbines (with a total capacity of 7.2 MW), 2 geothermal plants (23 MW), 59 small HPP with capacities varying from 0.5 to 30 MW (513 MW), about 100 mini HPP with a capacity of less than 0.5 MW (40 MW), 11 biomass units (523 MW) in operation in Russia. All these make up only 0.5% of the installed capacity of power plants in Russia. According to energy strategy of Russia for the period up to 2020 [16] the potential of renewable energy resources in the country is quite high (Table 1), however, at the same time the installed capacity of RES is predicted only in the following amounts: wind turbines 1-1.2 GW; small and mini-HPP 2.5-3 GW, geothermal plants 0.25-0.3 GW which is quite an insignificant share in the total generation over this period.
Energy resource Energy of small rivers Geothermal energy Biomass energy Wind energy Solar energy Lowtemperature heat Theoretical 360 Very high Potential Technical 125 180 Economic 65 115

Table 1. Potential of renewable energy resources in Russia, million tce

Meanwhile the world has accumulated great experience in economic stimulation of RES [17]. The main forms of such a stimulation are: - subsidies and loans at low interest rates; - loan guarantees to banks; - fixed purchasing prices of energy produced from RES; - exemption from tax on part of profit invested in nonconventional energy; - accelerated cost recovery system; - funding R&D in the field of non-conventional energy. Though indirectly, still the use of RES is affected by such instruments of environmental policy as payment for environmental pollution, emission of greenhouse gases, other green taxes. Renewable energy sources are mostly used in the countries with stringent environmental regulation which includes the system of legal, administrative and economic instruments. These instruments are applied at a national and municipal levels to stimulate reduction of emissions (not only from energy plants). This approach is typical of the Scandinavian countries,

EU

Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, the USA. Developing countries (China, India, etc.) have specific approaches to the environmental policy that combine direct administrative regulation and indirect economic incentives. Nevertheless the economic stimulation of investments in RES becomes increasingly important in these countries. Creation of stimulating policy concerning RES has started in Russia as well. For example a group of American and Russian companies have developed a pilot project of a commercial wind farm with a capacity of 75MW that will be connected to the EPS of Saint-Petersburg and Leningrad region. The wind farm will consist of 50 1.5 MW wind turbines manufactured by the company GE Wind Energy [18]. Construction of the wind farm will be supported by the administration of the Leningrad region that is ready to provide tax allowances to the participants of the project, including property and income tax allowances. Besides, amendments were made to the draft regional law On support of the use of nonconventional renewable energy resources in Leningrad region and tax allowances were envisaged for the industrial consumers of electric energy produced from wind (or other renewable sources) that can cover the difference between the tariffs of electricity from conventional and non-conventional sources. The project will make it possible to develop the normative documents and techniques for designing analogous wind farms and create a mechanism for guaranteed recovery of the capital borrowed to fund their construction. Electric power systems of the future Electric power systems of the future can be symbolically presented as those in Fig. 2, where 1 industrial consumers, 2 residential consumers, 3 conventional large power plants, 4 small GT CPs, 5 mini- and micro-HPP, 6 WT, 7 solar power plants, 8 fuel cells, 9 piston engine generators, 10 energy storage devices, 11 biogas. As is seen from the Figure the EPS of the future should combine distributed generation with large power sources, without which power supply to large consumers and feasible power consumption growth rates are a difficult challenge. Large power plants are connected to the high voltage main grid that supplies power to large consumption hubs. At the same time, as follows from the above said, the distributed generation, including that based on RES installed in the 6-35 kV distribution network should be well developed. Besides there will be miniand micro-plants (mini and micro-HPP, WT, solar power plants, fuel cells, etc.) that are connected at the

voltage of 0.4 kV and placed at small consumers, for example in houses or even flats.

Figure 2. Electric power system of the future Technical features and problems This change in the electric power systems of the future adds positive properties to them yet creating some certain problems. The main changes in the EPS that are caused by distributed generation are as follows: Expansion of distributed generation unloads both the main grid and the distribution network which fosters decrease in power losses, improvement of reliability and increase in stability of EPS. Besides it offers additional opportunities for electricity markets through making available transfer capabilities of ties [19-24]. At the same time distributed generation implies new elements in EPS, with new dynamic characteristics and control capabilities. Wind turbines have alternating operating conditions which at large total capacities of wind turbines may cause problems in control of EPS operation, frequency regulation; besides there is a need for reservation of 50% of the wind turbine capacity, etc. [22, 25-27]. During strong winds the wind turbines stop their operation and at their large total capacity this may become an extraordinary disturbance that may lead to stability violation in the EPS and a cascade development of the emergency [21, 24, 27]. Small GTs have lower inertia constants as compared to conventional units of thermal and hydraulic power plants and regulation system characteristics distinct from large units [22,28,29]. To date some studies have been carried out to see what is the impact of distributed generation on EPS properties in steady and transient states, however the studies of this problem are only at the initial stage and it is too early to make more or less certain conclusions and recommendations.

The distributed generation has impact on power quality as well. On the one hand presence of distributed generation in the distribution network makes it possible to more reliably maintain voltage levels in the nodes owing to capabilities of these generators to generate reactive power unlike conventional distribution networks in which the farther from high voltage supply substation the higher voltage losses. On the other hand the phenomenon related to fast voltage fluctuations has been revealed. In the publications it was named flicker. Normally the flicker develops at a sharp decrease in voltage in the connection node of a small generator particularly if this generator is asynchronous [22,26]. The impact of distributed generation on generation of higher harmonics in a system is also ambiguous. On the one hand presence of distributed generators decreases the level of higher harmonics. On the other hand many small units, for example wind turbines, high frequency GT, are connected to the distribution network through the converters of AC to DC and vice versa that generate higher harmonics into the network [22,26,29]. Connection of distributed generation sources to distribution network increases short-circuit currents which may require replacement of switching units, change in relay protection settings, etc. [22,26,29]. Distributed generation complicates dispatching control of EPS and shifts its functions to distribution network. The problem here is highly uncertain operating conditions of the distributed generation because of uneven load of the units, lack of current information on their operation, etc. Some developments have appeared lately in which the attempts have been made to solve this problem by the distributed dispatching control system based on the Internet technologies [22,30]. This gave birth to the notion of virtual power plant which conditionally integrates distributed generations into one system by the distributed Internet-system of control. Distributed generation complicates the relay protection and automatic control systems and emergency control of EPS [22, 23,31,32]. With connection of distributed generation the distribution network acquires the features of the main grid, i.e. it faces the problems of stability and others. With the loss of power supply from the supply substation of the main grid it is possible to island a distributed generation unit for the load close in capacity thus providing power supply to important consumers. This problem got the name of islanding. It is quite intensively

studied [22,24,26,29] and implies consideration of some issues, in particular: determination of a set of consumers to be connected to a small generator at islanding; creation of principles and designing of specific automatic devices; consideration for specific operating conditions of distributed generators, etc. It is also necessary to mention a negative factor of WT which is low-frequency noise caused by rotating blades. However, this problem can be solved using a special design of blades [22,24,29]. All the enumerated features of distributed generation call for thorough study of properties and characteristics of different plants, development of mathematical models of their operation under different conditions. There is a need for creation of new methods for analysis of operating conditions of power supply systems that have distributed generation, their reliability, stability, etc. There is a need to develop mathematical models and methods for planning the expansion of power supply systems and EPS, taking into account distributed generation [22,23,34 etc.].

Conclusions The trends of the world power industry development are related not only to the growing production of electric power at conventional large power plants but to the increase in the share of distributed generation as well. These trends are determined by the need for adaptation of consumers and EPS expansion to market uncertainty, by the emergence of new highly efficient energy technologies, a growing share of highly efficient types of fuel, tightening of environmental requirements, stimulation of RES use at a government support. The global trends of organic combination of centralized and distributed generation are observed in Russia as well. While the economic conditions for development of small GT CPs are acceptable already now, for development of distributed generation on the basis of RES there are so far no necessary economic, legislative and organizational conditions. Creation of these conditions is an urgent problem in Russia. A growing share of distributed generation in EPS has not only positive sides but creates some certain technical problems related to the change in the properties of systems, capabilities of controlling them under normal and emergency conditions. These problems are solvable, however dispatching and automatic control of EPS gets complicated and there is a need for new mathematical models for planning the expansion of EPS and power supply systems, analysis of their operation and control.

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