A COST ANALYSIS OF WHEELING IN THE ELECTRIC UTILITY INDUSTRY.

摘要

Wheeling occurs in an electric power transmission system when electric utilities transfer power for others to use. Power transfers facilitate joint operations and bulk power transactions in the electric utility industry. The increasing use of transmission systems for power transfers arises from the structural and economic changes that create incentives for mutually beneficial transactions involving utilities, wholesale power customers, and non-traditional suppliers of electricity such as cogenerators, small power producers and independent generating companies.;The basic approach to finding marginal wheeling costs uses sensitivity analysis on the optimal power flow model. The marginal wheeling costs are computed from area cost sensitivity factors estimated by solving a selected system of equations. Using this methodology, marginal wheeling costs can be directly computed for a power transfer between any two areas or points in an electric power system.;Total wheeling costs are determined using a new approach to allocating costs between bulk power services. This cost allocation is achieved by decomposing given levels of power exports and imports throughout a power system into a series of bilateral transactions. These bilateral transactions are economically ordered so that no arbitrary decision need be made about which transaction comes first or last in determining total wheeling costs. Using this approach to cost allocation, total wheeling costs can be found for individual areas and for specified transactions.;Examples of some of the uses of the costing methodologies are: (1) determining marginal cost-based wheeling prices, (2) estimating short-run total wheeling costs for areas on and off the contract path in bulk power transactions and (3) allocating the cost savings arising from inter-area power transfers. This thesis uses the methodologies to compute short-run marginal and total wheeling costs in a test power system. The analysis of the numerical results provides insight into the factors influencing the magnitudes of wheeling costs.;This thesis develops methodologies for determining marginal and total short-run costs of wheeling. These methodologies are based on an optimal power flow model of an interconnected electric power system. This model provides an exact representation of power flows and losses.