Economic assessment of using FACTS technology to integrate wind power: A case study

In order to comply with the European Union´s ambitious renewable targets for 2020, extensive investments in wind generation capacity have been made. Wind power plants are located primarily where the resource is available, which can lead to local transmission constraints during certain periods. In order to avoid transmission congestions, short-term measures that increase system operation costs such as topological maneuvers, conventional generation redispatch and wind curtailment are taken by the system operator. In this context, this paper performs a cost-benefit analysis of the installation of a Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) device to avoid transmission congestions in a Spanish area dominated by wind generation contributing to a more efficient integration of wind power. Furthermore, it is computed the additional wind power that could be integrated with the installation of this device.