Generation cost and system risk trade-off with corrective power flow control

Increased penetration of renewable generation and the liberalization of electricity markets result in increasingly varying power flows in the electric power system. This has led to increased occurrences of congestions which are mostly resolved by dispatching generation in an economically suboptimal way. In this paper, we use power flow control to render the system more flexible by providing the capability of rerouting power to lines where sufficient capacity is available. The objective is to minimize a combination of generation cost and a risk-based security index as opposed to formulating a traditional security constrained economic dispatch. In addition, corrective actions by the power flow control devices are used to allow for a less conservative generation dispatch resulting in reduced generation costs while maintaining system security in case of a contingency. Simulation results provide insights into the benefits provided by corrective power flow control in such a trade-off between generation cost and system risk.