South Australia - SMART POWER GENERATION For Improved Power System Security And Reliability

摘要

In 2015-16, approximately 43% of electricity produced in South Australia was supplied from renewable energy sources. Currently, electricity in South Australia is generated from renewable and non-renewable sources: natural gas, wind and rooftop photovoltaics systems. High renewable penetration has forced out coal fired generation. With fewer traditional generators (coal or gas) in the market, the state has less capacity to generate energy on demand. This is a problem when demand is high and the wind isn't blowing. Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) operates Australia's National Electricity Market (NEM), the interconnected power system in Australia’s eastern and south-eastern seaboard. Recent blackouts and electricity problems have highlighted the cold, hard economics of power supply in Australia. South Australians were left to swelter on a 42degcC day in early Feb 2017 when the electricity of more than 90,000 residents (~100MW) was cut off because there was not enough power available. AEMO failed to properly predict SA’s needs as temperatures soared and over-estimated likely production from wind farms. The gas-fired Pelican Point power plant near Port Adelaide was willing to fire up and fill the energy shortfall but was not given enough notice. The increasing use of renewables has changed the electricity market and is throwing up new challenges. Adequate installed power generation capacity is not enough; in fact there is currently an oversupply of generation. It is important to have the right kind of power generation technology – Smart Power Generation which is fast, flexible, efficient and low carbon. In this paper we discuss how combustion engine based Smart Power Generation can enable higher renewable penetration while improving the power system security and reliability and also lowering system level costs.