Multiarea Stochastic Unit Commitment for High Wind Penetration in a Transmission Constrained Network

In this paper we present a unit commitment model for studying the impact of large-scale wind integration in power systems with transmission constraints and system component failures. The model is formulated as a two-stage stochastic program with uncertain wind production in various locations of the network as well as generator and transmission line failures. We present a scenario selection algorithm for selecting and weighing wind power production scenarios and composite element failures, and we provide a parallel dual decomposition algorithm for solving the resulting mixed-integer program. We validate the proposed scenario selection algorithm by demonstrating that it outperforms alternative reserve commitment approaches in a 225 bus model of California with 130 generators and 375 transmission lines. We use our model to quantify day-ahead generator capacity commitment, operating cost impacts, and renewable energy utilization levels for various degrees of wind power integration. We then demonstrate that failing to account for transmission constraints and contingencies can result in significant errors in assessing the economic impacts of renewable energy integration.