Analysis of distributed generation sources and load shedding schemes on isolated grids case study: The Bahamas

Caribbean islands such as the Bahamas, Grenada and St. Lucia are affected yearly by seasonal hurricanes and tropical storms which can lead to blackouts and voltage variations of the power system. The Bahamas in particular consists of 16 isolated island grids which inhabits a population of 300,000. Diesel generators are employed to provide electricity for each island, but with increasing oil prices, and maintenance cost the Bahamas Electricity Corporations faces a huge loss on electricity generation in the millions of dollars each year. To decrease this loss and to improve the power quality of the system, distributed generation systems are being sought after. This paper investigates the effects of utilizing renewable energy sources on the island of New Providence, Bahamas and analyzing various load shedding schemes on the system in the instance of a disturbance due to a natural disaster. A report of the New Providence Transmission system was used in modeling the 132kV grid system using the Electrical Transient Analyzer Program 12.0 (ETAP) environment to perform a load flow and transient analysis for reducing power losses in the transmission system and improving reliability of the Bahamian distribution system.