EPNES: Planning Reconfiguratble Power System Control for Transmission Enhancement with Cost-Recovery Systems

This project will develop (a) design theory and method for planning hybrid (discrete and continuous) power system controllers, and (b) economic systems, applicable to power systems utilizing energy markets, for recovering and allocating costs of the design and installation of such controllers. Discrete-event system theory, together with integer programming optimization methods, will be utilized in the control design approach. The economics thrust, to be heavily emphasized in this project, will draw on the theory of public economics to determine the level and manner of regulation necessary in a market designed to provide an appropriate amount of power system control. The impact of additional control on the locational marginal prices (LMPs) will be studied to determine the value of the control. These approaches will be illustrated using three different and increasingly complex testbeds, with the most evolved being the 6000 bus model of the western US interconnection. New courseware will be developed that links the economics, control, and power systems issues addressed in the project, and this courseware will be utilized in the graduate curricula of both the EE and Economics departments at Iowa State University. Effort will be made to attract to this project minorities and women undergraduates (funded under an REU) and graduate students (funded as GRAs). An important aim of this project is to expose the excitement of our disciplines to high school students. We intend to involve teachers from high schools in surrounding areas in a RET effort and provide exposure to the discipline. We also involve an industrial advisor who brings practical aspects to this proposal. Two PhD students who have a broad background in electric power engineering, control theory, and economics will add to the nation's scientific work force.