PGE/REWE 2015

Optimising a Generation Fleet with a Heavy Penetration of Renewables Utilising the Dispatch Simulator (Room G105, Auditorium Centre, First Floor)

10 Jun 15
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM

Tracks: Theme: Grid Support with Data & Generators, Theme: Renewable Energy Strategy, Business & Integration

Speaker(s): Christian Hultholm, Content Manager, Marketing & Business Development, Power Plants, Wärtsilä Corporation; Jaime Lopez, Content Specialist, Marketing & Business Development, Power Plants, Wärtsilä Corporation

The Dispatch Simulator is an application that shows the complexity of large-scale power systems. It demonstrates how substantial amounts of intermittent renewable power affect the system and the challenges that arise. Furthermore, it gives the user the unique possibility to try different strategies and generation technologies for managing the real-time balancing of electricity supply and demand. With the Dispatch Simulator anyone can act as a power system operator and take decisions on how to operate the different generation assets in a large-scale grid. The Dispatch Simulator illustrates in a concrete and understandable way the challenges of keeping the grid in balance. Furthermore, both the total generating costs and CO2 emissions are key parameters which the user continuously monitors and try to minimise. The Dispatch Simulator also gives the user the opportunity to add certain amounts of wind and solar power to the generation fleet, as well flexible gas-fired capacity. By utilising this asset for the balancing, the Dispatch Simulator demonstrates how the use of the larger power plants in the fleet can optimised, as these can be operated in a more stable manner. This paper will review the challenges modern power systems face and different approaches for tackling these issues. With the help of the Dispatch Simulator such future scenarios can be easily and rigorously presented and analysed.