Frequency and Duration Methods for Power System Reliability Calculations: I - Generation System Model

As a goal, the evaluation and computation of electric power system reliability requires that a consistent technique be used for all portions¿generation, transmission, and distribution. At present, a number of different methods are used for the generation system, while the frequency and duration of outages seems to be developing as a standard measure for the analysis of the distribution system. This paper and a subsequent one will present a reliability calculation method for the generation system that incorporates the frequency and duration of unit outages and includes consideration of the loads. This method leads to calculated generation reliability measures which are the availability, frequency of occurence, and mean duration of reserve states. These are cumulative states in that they specify system reserve conditions of a given magnitude or less. This paper is concerned with the procedure for calculating the availability, frequency, and outage duration for a number of generating units connected in parallel to form a single system. Numerical data are used to illustrate the technique and make comparisons with other methods.