Environmental Concerns And Climate Change - 1135 Words

Proposed Research Environmental concerns and climate change are influencing and shaping the future of the power industry. As a result, the electricity required to meet the growing demand is mainly generated from renewable energy resources, and this trend is expected to continue in the next decades [1]. Hydro and wind are major renewable energy resources and are free of greenhouse gas emissions [2]. This makes them valuable environmentally sustainable and economic resources for power generation around the world. A hydro-wind hybrid power system is an excellent combination for improved reliability, where the resources abound [3]. In Newfoundland and Labrador, there is enormous potential for hydro and wind renewable energy resources, with†¦show more content†¦This condition imposes unique challenges on the planning and operation of a hydro-wind integrated power system in a reliable manner [8]. Previous studies on wind penetration issues and solutions found that the limiting factors of wind integ ration include penetration level, forecasting reliability, geographic diversity, hydro generation flexibility and control of the overall system [6]. Control is a key enabling factor for the deployment of renewable energy systems [9]. Control techniques such as linear and dynamic programming, genetic algorithms, and neural networks, proposed by past research, for the control and economic dispatch of renewable energy systems, have not been acknowledged to be error free [3]. Two major flaws identified in existing techniques include the lack of ease-of-use, and adaptability to new situations and evolving regulations [3]. These flaws pose major operational challenges to utilities and thus, make control technologies optimization an imperative research endeavor. In 1998, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Policy 1 - Generation Control and Performance Standard (CPS) - was enforced to ensure effective frequency control in interconnected power systems. In this policy, for example, it is required that each balancing authority shall achieve, as a minimum, CPS1 compliance of 100% (a measure of the correlation between a