Reactive power management in the Italian system: a proposal for an economic compensation

The deregulation of the electric systems requires the definition of market procedures for the effective management of reactive resources. However, the amount of payments for participating to the voltage regulation service is a task characterized by conflicting objectives, from both the technical and the economic viewpoints. The main subjects related with the reactive power management are: maintaining an adequate security level, defining correct economic signals, providing a simple and transparent structure, ensuring market equity, and avoiding additional charges on the final energy price. After a brief review of the hierarchical voltage regulation structure developed in the Italian power system, a practicable scheme, coherent with the above mentioned requirements, is proposed: the final aim is to assign a correct economic value to the reactive resources