The power academy in the UK: a successful initiative to attract graduates to the power industry

The power industry in the UK faces major challenges over the next two decades to renew ageing networks and accommodate new generation, especially renewables. As a consequence, the industry needs to recruit a new generation of well-qualified electrical engineering graduates. This paper describes the IET Power Academy, established in 2004 to attract engineering graduates into employment within the power industry. In 2008, 17 companies and 7 leading UK universities are collaborating in the scheme with over 60 scholarships being offered each year. The scholarship package includes a bursary, a contribution to university fees, paid vacation training and an annual seminar. The scheme can be judged to have been a success to date, though challenges still remain, including persuading greater numbers of school and college leavers to study electrical or electronic engineering at university. As time goes on, while the industry can expect to have largely addressed issues associated with graduate recruitment, mid-career support and retention is likely to emerge as a key concern

System development issues concerning integration of wind generation in Great Britain

The European Union has committed itself to sourcing 20% of its energy from renewables by 2020. Britain's excellent wind resource is expected to make a significant contribution to this target, not least from Scotland and the north of England. However, exploitation of this resource requires appropriate and timely development of the GB electricity transmission system. This depends on appropriate market signals that communicate the need for transmission investment, something that many in the industry in Britain believe current arrangements do not adequately provide. This paper describes a number of proposals currently under discussion, outlines their interactions and highlights some of the key issues currently being debated

Assessment of tradable short-term transmission access rights to integrate renewable generation

Current regulatory practices in Great Britain (GB) grant future transmission access rights to constrained transmission areas subject to the completion of the associated transmission network reinforcements. This, however, may introduce substantial delays for generators to have access to the system and is of particular concern for wind farms wanting to connect in the north, remote from the main demand centres in the south. This paper examines the trading of transmission access rights, between conventional generators and new entrant renewables, as a possible short term remedy. An approach, using contingency analysis and sensitivity calculations, is described to determine the best candidate locations for the trading of transmission access rights between different generators. The approach is then implemented on a 250 node model representing a significant part of the GB system and results are elaborated

Test system requirements for modelling future power systems

This paper discusses the need for new test system models to be developed and made available to researchers. A number of features of such test systems are proposed. These include sufficient size and scope to allow control interactions to be studied but not so much that phenomena associated with new technologies cannot be understood. It is recalled that the performance of new technologies and their controls should be verified on a full system model that is as faithful to the real system and its parameters as possible and that this requires access to data often owned by generating companies to which system operators have access but do not feel able to disclose. Finally, arguments are presented as to why such data should be disclosed and it is recommended that regulatory authorities take steps to achieve it

Bayesian inferencing for wind resource characterisation

The growing role of wind power in power systems has motivated R&D on methodologies to characterise the wind resource at sites for which no wind speed data is available. Applications such as feasibility assessment of prospective installations and system integration analysis of future scenarios, amongst others, can greatly benefit from such methodologies. This paper focuses on the inference of wind speeds for such potential sites using a Bayesian approach to characterise the spatial distribution of the resource. To test the approach, one year of wind speed data from four weather stations was modelled and used to derive inferences for a fifth site. The methodology used is described together with the model employed and simulation results are presented and compared to the data available for the fifth site. The results obtained indicate that Bayesian inference can be a useful tool in spatial characterisation of wind

Optioneering analysis for connecting Dogger Bank offshore wind farms to the GB electricity network

This paper outlines possibilities for connecting 2.4 GW of power from two separate wind farms at Dogger Bank in the North Sea to the GB transmission system in Great Britain. Three options based on HVDC with Voltage Source Converters (VSC HVDC) are investigated: two separate point-to-point connections, a four-terminal multi-terminal network and a four-terminal network with the addition of an AC auxiliary cable between the two wind farms. Each option is investigated in terms of investment cost, controllability and reliability against expected fault scenarios. The paper concludes that a VSC-HVDC point-to-point connection is the cheapest option in terms of capital cost and has the additional advantage that it uses technology that is commercially available. However, while multi-terminal connections are more expensive to build it is found that they can offer significant advantages over point to point systems in terms of security of supply and so could offer better value for money overall. A multi-terminal option with an auxiliary AC connection between wind farms is found to be lower cost than a full multi-terminal DC grid option although the latter network would offer ability to operate at greater connection distances between substations

Security criteria for planning and operation in the new GB market

This paper summarises the overall objectives of the British Electricity Trading and Transmission Arrangements (BETTA) introduced in April 2005, describes the motivation for the development of a single GB Security and Quality of Supply Standard (GB SQSS), outlines the basic principles of the GB SQSS, describes the main differences between the different standards used by the three GB transmission licensees prior to BETTA and shows how these differences have been reconciled into a single Standard that takes into account both investment planning issues and system operation, including weather-related risk management. BETTA was introduced with the stated purpose of allowing generators and suppliers throughout Great Britain to trade in unified markets accessed through consistent and non-discriminatory transmission arrangements. Fundamental to the co-ordination of network investment planning, outage planning and real-time system operation on a GB basis has been the development of a single GB SQSS that is transparent to all transmission stakeholders and can be consistently applied by the Scottish licensees that remain responsible for network investment in Scotland as well as by the GB System Operator and owner of the transmission system in England and Wales – National Grid. The GB SQSS superseded and harmonised a variety of security standard documents used prior to BETTA. There were some differences between the pre-BETTA standards in respect of secured events, the event consequences that should be avoided, the wording of security criteria and their interpretation. For example, the scope and presentation of double circuit security in operational timescales appeared very different in Scotland from that in England and Wales. The great majority of the differences were successfully resolved – for example, resolution of the double circuit security differences was achieved through recognition of shared attitudes to risk on the part of the three GB transmission licensees. As a result, the GB SQSS is believed to be clear and to afford consistent application thus minimising the scope for unequal treatment of different customers or undue risks to system security

Power system analysis : emerging issues for utilities

A number of factors are driving the provision of power system analysis tools in new directions. These include: growing uncertainties in the planning and operation of power systems; growing pressures in market-oriented industries for transparency and accountability in decision making; increasing need for exchange of data between different market players; and the entry of contemporary software technologies and numerical methods into the power industry. These pose opportunities and challenges to software providers. The position of a power system operator as an arbiter in market-oriented electricity supply industries means its decisions must be shown to be free from commercial bias. The separation of different power system services among many providers has led to an increasing need for exchange of data. This can lead to uncertainty regarding the accuracy of data, the management of which may require new tools. The cost and technology drivers, statistical and probabilistic methods, maintenance of legacy software and the nature of new facilities are discussed in the article

All eyes on wind

The wind resource in Britain is among the bestin Europe but, as the development of wind farms gathers pace, industry is raising questions over security of supply and the viability of today’s transmission network to cope with an influx of intermittent generation. Answers are needed urgently, so what’s the solution

Calculation of economic transmission connection capacity for wind power generation

Applications for the connection of large-scale wind power generation to transmission networks are presenting new issues both for transmission system planners and generation developers. One of the major problems faced is the assessment of transmission system capacity requirements for the export of power from areas with high penetration of variable and intermittent sources of generation such as wind power. A method for evaluating the required transmission connection capacity from an area dominated by wind generation to the main interconnected system is presented, based on historical time series data for both wind power generation output and the demand in the group. The operational implications for the transmission system and generation owners are evaluated using a cost-benefit approach. The method is demonstrated for a number of network situations. Conclusions are drawn about the value of the method and, more generally, about the trade-off between investment in transmission capacity and curtailment of wind generation under favourable wind conditions