Selection of Conventional Generation Resources for Optimal Replacement by Wind Power Generations

Large-scale adoption of renewable energy resources is a relatively new concept for the utilities, and the best ways to integrate these resources into existing power grids is yet to be determined. Renewable energy resources are dramatically different from conventional resources, and are intermittent in nature. Studies have confirmed that the impacts of renewables are largely system-dependent. Hence, to keep bulk power systems reliable and yet facilitate massive integration of wind and solar energy resources, optimal strategies for making use of the remaining conventional generation resources and retiring others are needed. This paper proposes a methodology to determine the best candidate, among traditional resources, for retirement and replacement by wind power generation resources. The goal is to ensure that during unplanned wind power unavailability, power systems remain reliable. High wind penetration scenarios on IEEE 30-bus and IEEE 57-bus systems are analyzed to determine the effectiveness of the developed methodology on maintaining system steady-state stability and reliability.