Use of real time thermal ratings to support customers under faulted network conditions

As electricity demand grows, there will be an increasing number of locations where circuits designed with 100% redundancy will no longer be adequate, and following the failure of a single supply circuit the remaining circuit would be in danger of exceeding its static thermal rating at times of peak demand. In the longer term, expensive network reinforcement would be required to avoid breaching national security of supply standards. A lower cost solution than network reinforcement could be to increase the thermal rating of the remaining circuit. Use of real time thermal ratings (RTTR) can increase the static rating of a critical circuit to a generally higher dynamic rating, and thereby decrease the likelihood of customer disconnection, in particular at peak periods This paper considers a case study based on an actual section of network in the North of England, and on real time weather data. The potential of RTTR for mitigating the consequences of (n-1) failure is described and analyzed, including how it could be implemented in the control room.