| Concerns about the environmental impacts of fossil fuels and changes in government regulations concerning electric utilities are likely to lead to increased use of wind and solar energy in the generation mix. In many cases, the wind and solar energy conversion systems will be owned by small, independent power producers that sell power to electric utilities. The output of wind and solar energy conversion systems is highly random; therefore, a method is necessary to determine the effects of these sources on the system reliability.; This dissertation discusses a method of integrating the behavior of small power producing facilities (SPPFS) into the generation mix. The research method integrates models of wind and solar energy conversion systems with a model of the small power producers. The SPPF model is then integrated into the electric utility unit commitment procedure. System reliability indices such as the loss of load expectation (LOLE ) and the expected unserved energy (EUE) can be calculated once the SPPFs have been integrated into the generation mix.; This dissertation demonstrates the procedure and provides results for a large electric utility with SPPFS located in Atlanta, Georgia; Bismark, North Dakota; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Various combinations of wind and/or solar energy conversion systems are studied. The results include comparisons of the effective utilization of the wind and solar energy conversion systems at the different sites and of the effects on the system reliability. |
