Flexible resource value considering compulsory power supply for residential loads under extreme weather

Although the flexible resource (FR) value has been extensively analyzed for power system flexibility, the current methods cannot adequately explain why massive FRs are installed in real-world regions (e.g., China) to address extreme weather, even if flexibility requirements have been fulfilled under normal conditions. The reason is identified in this paper as the sharply increasing load shedding losses due to the compulsory power supply for residential loads (CPSRLs). In this context, FRs are required for CPSRLs which are more vulnerable under extreme weather. This motivates us to study the resultant impacts on the FR value. Firstly, an evaluation method is developed to quantify the FR value considering CPSRLs based on the Vickrey-Clark-Groves (VCG) mechanism. Furthermore, a ranking method is developed to identify the FR impacts on the value, which will be achieved through an optimization problem whose dual variables construct ranking indexes. Numerical experiments primarily using the PJM 5-bus and the IEEE 118-bus test systems examine the proposed methods and showcase that 1) the FR value differs significantly when CPSRL considerations are included compared to when they are not, as evidenced by the annual net benefit of the FR integrated in microgrids increasing from −$7600 to over $10,000 after including the CPSRL considerations, and 2) the FR value under extreme weather can be affected by network characteristics, as illustrated by numerical results from a one-hour scheduling scenario, where the value falls from $22.96 to $0 if network congestion occurs during dispatch, but rises to $229.60 in the absence of congestion.