1Handling Renewable Energy Variability and Uncertainty in Power System Operation
Ricardo Bessa, Carlos Moreira, Bernardo Silva and Manuel Matos
INESC TEC, INESC Technology and Science (Formerly INESC Porto) and FEUP, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
Concerns about global warming (greenhouse‐gas emissions), scarcity of fossil fuel reserves, and primary energy independence of regions or countries have led to a dramatic increase of renewable energy sources (RES) penetration in electric power systems, mainly wind and solar power. This has created new challenges associated with the variability and uncertainty of these sources. Handling these two characteristics is a key issue that includes technological, regulatory, and computational aspects. Advanced tools for handling RES maximize the resultant benefits and keep the reliability indices at the required level. Recent advances in forecasting and management algorithms provide a means to manage RES. Forecasts of renewable generation for the next hours/days play a crucial role in the management tools and protocols of the system operator. These forecasts are used as input for setting reserve requirements and performing the unit commitment (UC) and economic dispatch (ED) processes. Probabilistic forecasts are being included in management tools, enabling a move from deterministic to stochastic methods, which lead to robust solutions. On the technological side, advances to increase mid‐merit and base‐load generation ...