Focused Practice

I. Answer the following questions:

1. What are Modern Power Generation and Electric Utilities facing?

2. What do increasing environmental concerns present powerful opposition to?

3. Where are we witnessing very intensive development efforts?

4. Does new FACTS technology have any limitations?

5. How has the current limiting effect been achieved?

6. What is experience gained during this development work applicable for?

II. Analyse the grammar structures underlined in the above text.

III. Speak on: Modern Power Generators and Electric Utilities.

Unit 38 Grammar: The Participle Word List:

1. electric power systems (EPS) expansion	расширение/развитие энергосистем
2. to simulate	моделировать
3. complex,n	совокупность, группа
4. criterion (pl. criteria)	критерий
5. decision analysis	анализ решений
6. grid	энергетическая система, энергосеть
7. multicriteria	многокритериальный
8. utility theory	теория полезности, использования

Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis Techniques in Electric Power Systems Expansion Planning

The general approach to multi-criteria decision analysis on electric power system (EPS) expansion is a combination of several multi-criteria analysis techniques in terms of different preference relations in the analysis of decision. The approach is based on the fundamental concepts of the utility theory and development of concrete multi-criteria analysis techniques.

Expansion of large electric power systems (EPSs) embracing vast territories is very difficult to simulate due to a great number of significant factors. Internal structure of large power systems is complicated because of different types of generation units with different technical and economic characteristics, constraints on transmission capacities of the main grid in some directions, importance of requirements to reliability of EPS operation and security of power supply to consumers, etc. The problem of expansion of large EPSs is rather sophisticated due to uncertainty of future development conditions and other important factors.

The current technology for large EPS expansion planning includes several groups of problems, which specify the structure and operating conditions of EPS stage by stage. For example, the first stage is determination of the necessary number and types of generation units, the second is selection of new transmission lines of the main grid, the third stage is the study of reliability and operating conditions of EPS options, the last is determination of the principles and structure of the EPS control. There is a complex of criteria, models, and simulation techniques at each stage (level). A lot of concrete results in this area have been achieved in recent years.

The EPS expansion options can be estimated by several, as a rule, conflicting criteria (economic, technical, ecological, social, etc.). Decision-making is reduced to choice of such a possible option, which will have a maximum value taking into account the applied estimation criteria.

The problem of decision-making in the energy sector under conditions of availability of many criteria is far from being investigated. To make a final choice different informal (in terms of mathematics) procedures should be applied. For this purpose expert estimates, interactive procedures, experience and intuition of researches, and particularly of a decision maker, are widely used.