Reliability Assessment of a Backup Gas Turbine Generation System for a Critical Industry Load Using a Monte Carlo Simulation Model

The Alberta Interconnected Electric System (AIES) forms a single integrated transmission network serving the Province of Alberta, Canada. A number of large critical industrial loads are served by the AIES. These loads operate 24 h a day and seven days a week. This paper deals with a critical industrial load which is normally supplied by the Alberta provincial grid through two 72-kV lines. This load also maintains a backup generation system consisting of a set of gas turbines to meet its operating demands in the case of Alberta grid failure. The basic objective of this paper is to derive the optimal number of gas turbines that this critical load should maintain in order to satisfy the plant's reliability criteria in the case of grid failure for continuity of its operation. A Monte Carlo simulation model is developed to assess the adequacy of the backup gas turbine system, and the results of a series of case studies performed using the developed model are presented in this paper.