Cutting plane approaches for frequency constrained economic dispatch problems

Abstract Increasing the share of non-synchronous sources in the energy mix leads to a decline in the dynamic response of electrical systems. In particular, the performance of the primary frequency control may drop, increasing the risk of Under Frequency Load Shedding (UFLS) as a consequence of large power imbalances. This fact has drawn attention to the simplifications made when defining security constraints in generation schedule optimisation models. In this work we propose a new formulation of the security constraint in the economic dispatch problem. This formulation accounts for the diversity of the dynamic parameters of the reserve units in the optimal allocation of the frequency containment reserve. The approach may allow the development of renewable, but non-synchronous, sources while ensuring the power system security and generation schedules’ optimality.