IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - March/April 2021 - 16

guest editorial

Antonio J. Conejo and Federico Milano

energy insecurity
problems & remedial actions

AS THE POWER INDUSTRY MOVES
from a capacity-limited to an energyconstrained generation mix, diverse situations impact energy security. Environmental considerations may prevent the
deployment of components that increase
the energy security level, e.g., nuclear
or thermal units, or they may require the
retirement of such components. Limited
transmission capacity, outdated operational procedures, and/or limited storage availability may also significantly decrease the
operational security level. The interaction
of different energy systems is yet another
emerging issue. For example, natural gas
unavailability due to issues with natural
gas sources or pipelines affects the operational capability of power systems with a
significant share of renewable generation.
There exist, of course, new technologies and tools that, if properly harnessed,
may help maintain or even increase energy security. In this vein, demand flexibility has great potential. The redesign
of operational procedures involving a
comprehensive use of data processing,
forecasting, and optimization also appears as a viable and effective solution.
Models that accurately represent the
physical laws (ac power flow equations)
are increasingly important to make informed operational decisions. This issue of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine
provides an overview of energy security
problems and remedial actions in power
systems in different regions of the world.

The Article Lineup
This issue contains seven articles and
one column. The first two articles address energy security issues on the
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPE.2020.3043650
Date of current version: 19 February 2021

ieee power & energy magazine

" electrical island " of Texas and in
California, where wind and solar production, respectively, are the most relevant concerns. The next three articles
describe energy security approaches in
Europe, including the very distinct cases
of Ireland, Denmark, and Switzerland.
The final two articles pertain to security
issues in Japan and Australia, where insularity and a continental-wide service
area, respectively, call for tailored approaches. The issue concludes with the
" In My View " column, which provides
an insightful formal analysis of energy
security by Göran Andersson.
In the first article, Julia Matevosyan
and her coauthors provide a comprehensive description of the operational
security framework at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. It includes
background, a review of issues about
high inverter-based resource penetration, market-based solutions that comprise an array of ancillary services,
improved forecasting, and different situational awareness tools to ensure security from day ahead to energy delivery.
In our second article, Guillermo
Bautista Alderete introduces the California
power system to the reader. He analyzes
energy insecurity due to the coupling of
the natural gas and power systems as
a result of significant electricity production
using combined-cycle gas turbines and the
high penetration of weather-dependent
renewable sources. The article focuses on
the issues that have surfaced in southern
California as a result of the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage leak in 2015. The
remedial and preventive actions taken to
ensure electric energy supply security
are described. These actions are related
mostly to the coordination of the operation
of natural gas and power systems.

In the third article, Ivan Dudurych
presents the all-island Irish power system and focuses on the impact of a high
share of wind generation on the transient, voltage, and frequency stability
of the grid. The article provides a set of
definitions and best practices adopted
by the transmission system operator
EirGrid Group to cope with the peculiar
features of the Irish grid. On one hand,
to reduce emissions, the operators allow
up to 65% of instantaneous wind generation. On the other hand, the system is
islanded and connected asynchronously
to the British system. This interconnection can supply up to 10% of the Irish
peak demand but can trip unexpectedly
and very quickly and cause fast and
large variations of frequency. The article
concludes with a discussion of the relevance for monitoring of system security metrics, such as the rate of change
of frequency, system inertia, and system
nonsynchronous penetration level.
The next article, by Jacob Østergaard
and his coauthors, provides a comprehensive overview of the Danish power system
and the ambitious targets of the Danish
government regarding decarbonization.
The article explains how such targets can
be achieved through renewable generation
and load flexibility. The latter appears as
the most promising way to keep an acceptable level of system security in a scenario
where a large quota of the generation mix
is based on weather-dependent sources. A
review of ongoing Danish research projects suggests that there are many challenges but also many possible solutions.
Key to the process toward secure decarbonization is the role of distribution system operators, a multilayered landscape
of energy markets and services, and the
emerging concept of energy communities.
march/april 2021

IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - March/April 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - March/April 2021