Brattle Economists Develop Technology To Help Grid Operators Manage Power Flows And Reduce Transmission Congestion

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, Nov. 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Consultants at The Brattle Group, working in conjunction with Boston University and other researchers on a project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), are developing a new technology that will help grid operators more actively manage power flows, reduce congestion, and help integrate renewables. The technology, which is based on Topology Control Algorithms (TCA), allows for higher utilization of existing and new transmission projects, making transmission investments more valuable and the grid more reliable at very modest incremental costs.

The technology gives grid operators the ability to reliably transfer power flows to less utilized portions of the grid. In the event of transmission congestion, TCA quickly develops alternative network configurations to route some power away from and around the congested facilities by opening or closing selected circuit breakers. This active grid management could ease transmission congestion in grids with significant redundancy such as those in North America and Europe.

PJM Interconnection and other transmission operators currently perform occasional grid reconfigurations by relying on operator experience. However, to date there is no software tool that systematically identifies the best reconfiguration under real-time operations. The TCA technology has been simulated in operational PJM models for representative weeks of 2010 and 2013 conditions. Extrapolating results, these simulations show that the technology could save over $100 million in annual costs, which represents more than 50% of the total production cost increase due to real-time transmission congestion. Additionally, reduced congestion would decrease average power prices in constrained areas of the grid. These benefits would increase as higher levels of variable sources of power, such as wind and solar, are added to the grid.

"In addition to significant cost savings, the Topology Control Algorithms technology will lead to an increasingly efficient, reliable grid that is more resilient to potential disruptions from failure, natural disasters, or attack," said Pablo Ruiz, the project's principal investigator and a Brattle senior associate. "Correspondingly, the technology will reduce the cost of integrating renewable resources by increasing utilization of the grid and reducing the necessary curtailments of these resources."

The technology is being developed by Brattle consultants Pablo Ruiz, Bruce Tsuchida, Xiao Li, and Rebecca Carroll in conjunction with Boston University, Newton Energy Group, Tufts University, Northeastern University, Polaris Systems Optimization, AIMMS, and PJM Interconnection. Dr. Ruiz presented an update of the research results at the Transmission Topology Control Workshop, which took place today in Norristown, PA. The presentation is available for download at www.brattle.com.

The Brattle Group provides consulting services and expert testimony in economics and finance to corporations, law firms, and public agencies worldwide. Areas of expertise include regulation, operations, and planning in network industries; antitrust and competition; valuation and damages; and utility regulatory policy and ratemaking. For more information, please visit www.brattle.com.