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Feasibility Study: Synchronous Interconnection
of the
Power Systems of IPS/UPS with UCTE
At the beginning of 2002, the Electric Power Council of the Commonwealth of Independent States (EPC CIS) expressed its interest in a synchronous interconnection with the power systems of the CIS countries and the Baltic States (IPS/UPS) to the power systems of the members of the Union for the Co-ordination of Transmission of Electricity (UCTE).
Therefore, the UCTE decided to conduct a Pre-feasibility Study in order to analyse the steady state load-flow. After this was completed in 2003, the UCTE and the EPC CIS’s Commission on Operational and Technological Coordination (COTC) agreed to launch a detailed feasibility study on the synchronous interconnection of the power systems concerned. The project was carried out in close co-operation with a UCTE consortium and a group of companies from the IPS/UPS.
The Feasibility Study was designed to answer three major questions:
- Is a synchronous interconnection of the IPS/UPS and the UCTE possible?
- What measures have to be taken in both systems?
- What are the associated costs?
After the finalisation of the investigations in early 2008 the study partners have prepared a detailed internal documentation of results. The " Summary of Investigations and Conclusions ", endorsed by the study partners, is available here.
The summary points out that even if a synchronous coupling appears viable, it must be considered as a long-term option. The results underline the overall complexity of a synchronous coupling first in the context of system security and overall reliability but also from the point of view of operability of the underlying electricity markets. Additionally, the summary considers the evidence of non-synchronous system coupling possibilities by high voltage direct current (HVDC) technology, e.g. by back-to-back links. This worldwide used technique in large transmission systems may result beside its technical and economic advantages in a more cost-effective and thus “easier to realise” perspective for merging the electricity systems.
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