Blackout risk mitigation by using medium size gas turbines

This paper aims to analyze the economic aspects of the network power at risk mitigation by using gas turbine distributed generation. Two different Mixed-Integer Programming optimization models are proposed with the goal of selecting both, the most appropriate turbine models and the year of installation. The first model considers the existence of a global network agreement among generation companies and distributor in order to cover at least partially all the points at risk. The second one leaves the distributed generators full freedom to choose among the locations proposed by the distributor. Since electricity distribution is a regulated activity and manages public resources, one of the decisions that must be taken is how much the generators should be economically encouraged to install the appropriate generation power at the points at risk. To this end, a possible regulated remuneration that compensates for the power installation at certain points is considered. The proposed approach is illustrated by applying both models in a big scenario concerning approximately the half of the Spanish distribution network. A sensitivity analysis considering different values of remuneration and gas price is carried out. The analysis demonstrates the importance of gas price in order to apply the distributed generation mechanism.