Improving the assessment of power systems reliability through simulation

The major finding of this study is that accurate prediction of reliability indices for electric power systems 1 requires modeling of several operating considerations not usually present in analytical models. The principal features are the actual cycling duty of generators, the modeling of start-up delays, and the ex plicit treatment of unplanned unit outage postponabilities. All of these factors proved to significantly impact reliability indepen dent of system configuration or demand for electric power. The model presented here models all these factors in a computa tionally efficient manner.