ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief overview of electrical power systems and gives a perspective of its characteristics and control variables. It introduces the challenges and possible solutions for this environment in order to change the power systems. The generation system is very diversified. It has integrated different types of energy conversion technologies: thermal, wind, solar, and hydropower. The variability and intermittency of the resource are important challenges to be overcome in generation scheduling. Hydropower generation involves the potential and kinetic energy on the water that flows in the rivers. Wind power generation is a new renewable and dispersed generation technique that has reached maturity and is becoming one of the most important types of power generation in countries such as Denmark, Spain, Germany, and Portugal. In some of these countries, for windy days, energy generation reaches a percentage of the total load higher than 80%.
