Energy Equity-Constrained Tie-Line Scheduling Model in Interconnected Systems

Abstract

Energy equity refers to the condition in which access to the cleaner energy required by individuals is equally available to all. To relieve the energy expenditures - the key component in the concept of energy equity - of low-income communities, governments worldwide have imposed caps on soaring energy prices. However, the inherent mechanisms within the operational schedule remain undiscussed. This paper innovatively provides guidelines for operators to embed energy burden policies into the bulk power system model, by answering two critical questions. ① What is the impact on system price pattern when embedding the locational price constraints? ② How to reformulate the tie-line schedule to meet the equity thresholds? Consequently, a novel bi-level energy equity-constrained tie-line scheduling model is proposed. The conventional economic dispatch is solved at the upper level, and then a preliminary operational schedule is given to the lower level, where we propose an energy equity slackness component variable to evaluate the gap between preliminary and desired equity-satisfied operational schedules. The implicit constraints on the price are converted into explicit feasibility cuts with dual theory. Case studies on test systems demonstrate the reduced energy expenditure for underserved communities, and the optimal tie-line schedule is also validated.