Assessment of the potential for dynamic uprating of transmission lines in the Mexican National Electric Grid Academic Article in Scopus uri icon

abstract

  • © 2019 Elsevier B.V.A systematic assessment of the technical potential for dynamic uprating of transmission lines in the Mexican National Electric Grid has been conducted for the first time. The research is based on the hourly determination of the thermal capacity of those transmission lines in the subgrids of 115 kV, 230 kV, and 400 kV, where the thermal conduction capacity, rather than voltage or stability considerations, is the limiting factor. Thermal capacity, as defined by the IEEE Standard 738-2012, critically depends on environmental parameters such as wind speed and direction, solar radiation, and air temperature. In the present work, a georeferenced database for the Mexican power transmission system, containing layers with environmental and geographical information obtained from publicly available data sources, was constructed. Time series analyses with an hourly resolution were conducted to identify critical locations along transmission lines limited by their thermal capacity, and calculate the effective hourly rating, determined by the capacity of the weakest link. Transmission links with notorious congestion problems were identified through a review of published alerts of the transmission operator and the analysis of the congestion component of local marginal prices. A significant potential for removing bottlenecks and inefficiencies through dynamic uprating and/or reconductoring was identified. Additionally, the potential for new wind farm installations along one prominent wind farm corridor was assessed.

publication date

  • June 1, 2019