On the Use of Pumped Storage for Wind Energy Maximization in Transmission-Constrained Power Systems

Owing to wind power inherent characteristics and technical constraints of power systems operation, a considerable amount of wind energy cannot be delivered to load centers and gets curtailed. Transmission congestion together with temporal mismatch between load and available wind power can be accounted as the main reasons for this unpleasant event. This paper aims to concentrate on the wind energy curtailment for which it provides a combinatorial planning model to maximize wind power utilization. Jointly operating the wind power generation system with pumped hydro energy storage (PHES), the planning procedure tries to reach schemes with the minimum level of wind energy curtailment as well as low imposed cost of transmission network reinforcement. In this regard, a well-organized posterior multi-objective (MO) optimization framework is proposed aimed to properly deal with wind energy curtailment cost, total social cost, and also storage units' revenue as some unavoidable factors in planning studies of power systems. The presented method is conducted on the modified IEEE Reliability Test System (IEEE-RTS) and the obtained results introduce its applicability and efficiency in planning procedure of the renewable-based power systems.