Session 1 — Electric Power Systems
ELECTRIC POWER SYSTEMS*
M.KACZ
Director General, The Israel Electric Corporation
• In electric power systems, all consumers and energy suppliers are interconnected in one system.
Any instantaneous change in the demand has to be met by a corresponding change in supply. Any imbalance between demand and supply results in changes in the frequency, voltage or stability of the system.
Most electric power systems serve large geographical areas, in which the economic and social development of the area depends to a large degree on the ability of the power system to meet the demand at any time. This unparailelled connection between consumer and supplier places an enormous responsibility on the management of the power company.
No pure economic considerations can apply, as could be expected in the relations between buyer and supplier in other common fields.
• Modern industry needs a reliable and low-cost electricity supply to compete efficiently. Most industries also can differentiate between quality requirements of their consumers and supply products with various qualities.
In power systems, all consumers are interconnected, so the system has to be designed, built, operated and maintained according to the highest quality and reliability requirements, even for a part of the consumers. To meet such high requirements there is a need to distribute the basic cost associated with it among all consumers, even those who could supply products with lower qualities.
• The consumer in a specific geographic area cannot enjoy the advantages of competition, even if interconnections between neighboring power systems
are possible. Once the geographical borderlines are drawn, consumers cannot choose their suppliers.
• The planning horizon of the industry usually extends 5-10 years. Any new product must be brought to market as soon as possible, and its commercial lifetime may be quite short, depending to a large degree upon the competition.
Power system elements are designed for a lifetime of 30-40 years, so the electric power industry has to plan at least 10-15 years ahead. A decision between alternatives for the long-range development of the system may require even 30 years of planning ahead.
In addition, difficulties in the siting of power plant transformers and switching stations, as well as corridors for tie lines and transmission lines, may require even longer planning ranges.
This places unusual responsibility on the power industry managers, especially in times when the uncertain is more prevalent than the certain.
• Planning for such long-range horizons is difficult and raises the basic question of the technologies to be chosen. Once again, the problems are numerous and planning has to be careful, farsighted and flexible.
• The environmental problems add another dimension to the decision-making process.
Management has to foresee not only what will happen in the coming years, but what may be developed in the future as long as 30-40 years ahead.
• The conclusion is that since power system elements are designed for lifetimes which are unparalleled in other industries, long range planning has to be extremely careful and flexible, taking into account unforeseen factors.
*Thefull text of the lecture was not submitted by the author.
