Fortification of the 330-kV Nigerian network using renewable energy resources

Abstract

This work studies the impact of renewable energy source (RES) on the optimal power flow (OPF) solution of the Nigerian 330-kV power system network. In a previous OPF analysis of the Nigerian power system network, which was carried out with the inclusion of flexible alternating current transmission system (FACTS) devices, the results presented showed that voltage magnitudes of some buses were outside the tolerable limits and so static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) was applied to improve the voltage magnitude profile of the network. However, since such locations with intolerable limits have been reported to have good renewable energy potentials, it becomes necessary to study the effect of utilising RES in place of STATCOM. 50 MW out of the reported renewable energy potentials of the locations is used for this study. The results obtained show that though, there exist some similarities in the inclusion of STATCOM and RES in the OPF analysis, yet the inclusion of RES optimally readjusted the real power distribution in the system, thereby reducing the hourly fuel cost by 9.23% as compared to 1.2% recorded for the case of STATCOM.