Impact of SA.CO.I. refurbishment: flexibility analysis of the Sardinian system

摘要

The refurbishment of the three-terminal HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) link SA.CO.I.2 is an interesting study case in terms of possible techno-economic benefits and improved Sardinian system flexibility for operational security that can be provided by the interconnector. The present paper firstly investigates the key techno-economic benefits, evaluated by the application of a OPF (Optimal Power Flow)-based market simulator for zonal analyses. Starting from the optimized power schedules and generation unit commitment, main focus is on the Sardinian system flexibility adequacy that is verified by means of the comparison between the power reserve margins availability and the operational security requirements. The results provide indexes of the effectiveness that the new infrastructure may have on the Sardinian system in a 2030 time horizon in line with the scenario assumptions of the Italian National Energy Strategy.