Super Area Display

See Also

 

The Super Area Display identifies any super areas that have been defined for the case. Super areas are groups of areas whose generators are dispatched as a coordinated group. Super areas can thus be useful for modeling the operation of independent system operators or power pools.

Super areas cannot be inserted into a case from the Individual Insert ribbon group on the Draw ribbon tab. Instead, a super area can be defined when modifying or creating an area simply by typing the name of a new super area in the Super Area dropdown box on the Area Information Dialog.

The Super Area Records Display is a class of Case Information Display and therefore can be used in a manner consistent with all other case information displays. It has a local menu from which you can print, copy, and modify its records as well as view the information dialog of its associated super areas. You can call up the Quick Power Flow List or Bus View Display to obtain more information about representative bus in the super area. You can also sort the super area records by clicking on the heading of the field by which you want to sort.

To show this display select Aggregation > Super Areas in the Model Explorer.

The display contains the following fields by default:

 

Super Area

The name of the super area.

AGC Status

The Super Area may operate without automatic generation control (AGC Status = Off AGC), with participation factor control (AGC Status = Part. AGC), or according to an economic dispatch (AGC Status = ED). This is a toggleable field.

Use Area PF

Indicates whether to use the areas participation factors when the super area is to operate with participation factor control (Part. AGC).

Num Areas

Indicates the number of areas defined as being part of the super area. Areas are added to super areas using the Super Area dropdown box on the Area Information Dialog.

Gen MW

Total MW injection from all the generators in the super area.

Load MW

Total MW load demanded in the super area.

Tot Sched MW

Total scheduled MW interchange with other areas or super areas.

ACE MW

The area control error in MW. This is the amount of MW flow difference between the actual MW interchange and the desired MW interchange. A positive value means the super area is generating and exporting excess MW's, and a negative value means the super area is under-generating and importing too many MW's.

Lambda

The super area’s marginal cost.

Loss MW

Indicates the real power losses incurred within the super area.

ED Use PF

Indicates whether the power flow engine will calculate loss penalty factors in computing the economic dispatch solution for the super area. If loss penalty factors are not calculated, then the economic dispatch is calculated assuming that the super area is lossless. Otherwise, the economic dispatch solution incorporates losses. The penalty factors gauge the sensitivity of the area’s losses to changing injection at specific generators. The option to calculate loss penalty factors is relevant only when the super area operates according to Economic Dispatch Control. Usually, if the system’s cost curves are relatively flat, the inclusion of losses in the solution will not have much of an effect on the dispatch.