A Comprehensive Analysis of Renewable Energy Representations in Power System Generation Expansion Planning

Due to the stochastic nature of renewable generation, power system planning with high penetration of renewables is challenging. Analyzing the influence of renewable energy variability on system reliability is of crucial importance in power system planning. There are two well-known approaches in incorporating renewable generation: the negative load approach and the multi-state generation approach. The objective of this study is to review the performance of these two methods in quantifying system reliability. Both pros and cons of each method are discussed based on experiments conducted using public data for both wind and solar power generation. Reliability indices are quantified using these two representations of renewable generation. In addition, this paper analyzes how representative a single-year renewable generation profile is, by comparing the reliability indices using multiple-year renewable energy data.