Query regarding optimal 'siting' task

[Jubeyer Rahman]

Hello,

Based on my understanding of the documentation and the discussion in this group, it is not very clear to me that how can we get the optimal location of a specific technology placement. It seems like SWITCH gives the optimal size and the year of building decisions but how can I find out where to build a specific technology. I will be considering transmission line information in my model.

It seems like there is a hint to my question in this answer but I need a confirmation and a detailed description of setting up the input data process if possible.

Regards,

Jubeyer

[Jubeyer Rahman]

Hi,

I have one more question. Since SWITCH uses the 'transportation model' for the power-flow, I assume that it will not be able to determine the exact bus number rather it will give the load zone for building the technology. If we use a DC-power flow model, can it provide the bus location after the solve?

Regards,

Jubeyer

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[Matthias Fripp]

Hi Jubeyer,

Sorry for the slow response! If you need to choose exactly where a project will be sited, then you should create a generation project for each site of interest, and fill in the details for that particular site (costs of equipment, fuel, O&M, etc.; load zone; amount of existing capacity; etc.). Alternatively, you can just define one project for each type of technology in each zone (e.g., all new CCGT plants), and then just choose arbitrarily which sites you assume that corresponds to. Either way, Switch generally treats all projects in the same zone as being equivalent electrically. The first method just lets you prioritize the cheaper sites.

Switch doesn't have a built-in DC power flow model, but it wouldn't be too hard to add, based on the (experimental) AC flow model (https://github.com/switch-hawaii/scuc/blob/master/trans_branch_flow.py). The challenge with a DC power flow model is that transmission capacity expansion then has quadratic effects, making the models much harder to solve (if they can be solved). (The AC model is very nonlinear and wasn't designed to be used for capacity expansion at all.) If you run a DC power flow model, you would need to specify which node each candidate generation project is at, and then if Switch chooses to add capacity in that project, you would know which node it was at.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have more questions.

Matthias