Flexibility quantification for thermal power generators using deterministic metric for high renewable energy penetration

Power system operation became a challenging with the integration of variable and uncertain Renewable Energy Sources (RES) generation. The operational flexibility describes the technical ability of the power system to respond to the net-load within a controllable power at a certain time to accommodate the RES power output. The main objective of this paper is to analyse and evaluate the impact of the variation of ramping and capacity weights on the flexibility quantification of the IEEE RTS-96 test system. This paper contributes to the up-rising field of flexibility by providing a precise analysis of a deterministic metric and weights variation to assets the available flexibility from the individual generator and as well as when aggregated within the power system. The analysis is executed using a deterministic metric with an iterative variation of both ramping and capacity weights simultaneously to quantify the technical flexibility of the overall system and each different technology of the test system. The results demonstrate that the increment of the capacity weight has more influence on the individual generators flexibility and the overall system flexibility as well. The incremental rate of flexibility is not linear for all the units at the test system. This metric is useful for the power system operators and planners who requires simple, fast and offline metric to quantify the technical flexibility of the power system.