Operation of a fully renewable electric energy system with CSP plants

This paper analyzes the operation of a fully renewable electric energy system from the viewpoint of the system operator. The generation system is dominated by concentrating solar power plants (CSP) with storage, and includes wind and biomass power plants and pumped-storage facilities. The transmission network is represented using a dc approximation, the demand is considered elastic and the uncertainty of renewable production is modeled via scenarios. To carry out the analysis, we use a two-stage stochastic programming model that represents the day-ahead market (first stage) and the actual operation of the system (second stage). This model is recast as a mixed-integer linear programming problem solvable using branch-and-cut techniques. The proposed model is applied to a realistic case study based on the IEEE 118-node system and solar/wind data from Texas, US. The impact on operation and operation cost of the system flexibility and of the operation and maintenance costs of renewable energies are analyzed. Finally, we study the operation of the system throughout the four seasons of the year.