Impact of Dynamic Line Rating on Dispatch Decisions and Integration of Variable RES Energy

Abstract: Dynamic line rating (DLR) models the transmission capacity of overhead lines as a function of ambient conditions. It takes advantage of the physical thermal property of overhead line conductors, thus making DLR less conservative compared to the traditional worst-case oriented nominal line rating (NLR). Employing DLR brings potential benefits for grid integration of variable Renewable Energy Sources (RES), such as wind and solar energy. In this paper, we reproduce weather conditions from renewable feed-ins and local temperature records, and calculate DLR in accordance with the RES feed-in and load demand data step. Simulations with high time resolution, using a predictive dispatch optimization and the Power Node modeling framework, of a six-node benchmark power system loosely based on the German power system are performed for the current situation, using actual wind and PV feed-in data. The integration capability of DLR under high RES production shares is inspected through simulations with scaled-up RES profiles and reduced dispatchable generation capacity. The simulation result demonstrates a comparison between DLR and NLR in terms of reductions in RES generation curtailments and load shedding, while discussions on the practicality of adopting DLR in the current power system is given in the end.