Integrating controllable demand into real-time, security constrained economic dispatch.
Audrey Zibelman is co-founder and CEO of Viridity Energy, and formerly was chief operating officer at PJM. Chika Nwankpa is a professor and Director of the Center for Electric Power Engineering (CEPE) at Drexel University. Alain Steven is co-founder and executive vice president of strategy at Viridity Energy, and formerly was chief technology officer at PJM. Allen Freifeld is senior vice president of law and public policy at Viridity Energy, and formerly was a commissioner on the Maryland Public Service Commission.
Security constrained economic dispatch (SCED) has long been recognized as the most efficient approach to operating a multi-unit electric grid. However, policy makers also have recognized that improvements to the standard SCED algorithms are possible and would be beneficial. For example, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 directed the FERC to convene a Joint Board to examine SCED in the various regions. The board’s report dated May 24, 2006, contained a number of recommendations for improvements to SCED practices.
The Joint Board defined SCED as “the operation of generation facilities to produce energy at the lowest cost to reliably serve consumers, recognizing any operational limits, of generation and transmission facilities.” As the board noted, “SCED is designed to be an optimization process that takes account of these factors in selecting the generating units to dispatch so that a reliable supply of electricity at the lowest cost possible under the conditions prevailing in each dispatch time interval can be delivered.”