ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.
In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.
Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.
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- All Subjects: Renewable energy sources
- Creators: Ayyanar, Raja
This thesis also identifies several parameters associated with the FREEDM system, which are used in the cost benefit study to evaluate the investment and several direct and indirect benefits. Different topologies are selected to represent the FREEDM test bed. Considering the cost of high speed fault isolation devices, the topology design is selected based on the minimum number of fault isolation devices constrained by enhanced reliability. A case study is also performed to assess the economic impact of energy storage devices in the solid state transformers so that the fault isolation devices may be replaced by conventional circuit breakers.
A reliability study is conducted on the FREEDM distribution system to examine the customer centric reliability index, System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI). It is observed that the SAIFI was close to 0.125 for the FREEDM distribution system. In addition, a comparison study is performed based on the SAIFI for a representative U.S. distribution system and the FREEDM distribution system.
The payback period is also determined by adopting a theoretical approach and the results are compared with the Monte Carlo simulation outcomes to understand the variation in the payback period. It is observed that the payback period is close to 60 years but if an annual rebate is considered, the payback period reduces to 20 years. This shows that the FREEDM system has a significant potential which cannot be overlooked. Several direct and indirect benefits arising from the FREEDM system have also been discussed in this thesis.
In the future, along with an increase in the percentage of converter interfaced renewable energy sources connected to the transmission network, there exists a possibility of even connecting synchronous machines to the grid through converters. Thus, all sources of energy can be expected to be coupled to the grid through converters. The control and operation of such a grid will be unlike anything that has been encountered till now. In this dissertation, the operation and behavior of such a grid will be investigated. The first step in such an analysis will be to build an accurate and simple mathematical model to represent the corresponding components in commercial software. Once this bridge has been crossed, conventional machines will be replaced with their solid state interfaced counterparts in a phased manner. At each stage, attention will be devoted to the control of these sources and also on the stability performance of the large power system.
This dissertation addresses various concerns regarding the control and operation of a futuristic power grid. In addition, this dissertation also aims to address the issue of whether a requirement may arise to redefine operational reliability criteria based on the results obtained.
Some key features of the FREEDM system include improved power flow control, compact design and unity power factor operation. Customers may observe a reduction in the electricity bill by a certain fraction for using renewable sources of generation. There is also a possibility of huge subsidies given to encourage use of renewable energy. This thesis is an attempt to quantify the benefits offered by the FREEDM system in monetary terms and to calculate the time in years required to gain a return on investments made. The elevated cost of FIDs needs to be justified by the advantages they offer. The result of different rates of interest and how they influence the payback period is also studied. The payback periods calculated are observed for viability. A comparison is made between the active power losses on a certain distribution feeder that makes use of distribution level magnetic transformers versus one that makes use of SSTs. The reduction in the annual active power losses in the case of the feeder using SSTs is translated onto annual savings in terms of cost when compared to the conventional case with magnetic transformers. Since the FREEDM system encourages operation at unity power factor, the need for installing capacitor banks for improving the power factor is eliminated and this re-flects in savings in terms of cost. The FREEDM system offers enhanced reliability when compared to a conventional system. The payback periods observed support the concept of introducing the FREEDM system.
This thesis involves the development of novel hot start dc model using a power transfer distribution factors (PTDFs) approach. This document also discusses the problems of ill-conditioning / rank deficiency encountered while deriving this model. This model is then compared to several dc power flow models using the IEEE 118-bus system and ERCOT interconnection both as the base case ac solution and during single-line outage contingency analysis. The proposed model matches the base case ac solution better than contemporary dc power flow models used in the industry.