A Comprehensive Evaluation Index System for Power System
Operation
Hong Wang1, Zhenzhi Lin1, Fushuan Wen1*, Jiansheng Huang2
1. School of Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China (*fushuan.wen@gmail.com)
2. School of Electrical Engineering, University of Western Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Keywords: power system; evaluation index system;
reliability; economy
Abstract
With the rapid development of modern power systems, it is
imperative to establish an evaluation index system for
monitoring power utilities. Previous researches have mainly
focused on the evaluation of power system operation
regarding to a few aspects, lack of an integrated evaluation to
assess the overall performance of power industry. This paper
presents a new comprehensive evaluation index system. The
index system contains five categories covering the assessment
on reliability, economy, power quality, energy efficiency and
fairness, and provides a reference for achieving optimal
dispatching and management of power systems.
1 Introduction
With the increasing scale and interconnection, the
operation and control complexity of modern power systems is
becoming more complicate than ever before. It is thus no
longer realistic to judge and evaluate the operation conditions
of a power system by only the intuition of operators. It is
therefore necessary to develop an evaluation index system to
assess the reliability, economy, quality and dispatching
fairness of power system operation. In such an index system,
the health of power systems can be analyzed quantitatively so
as to identify the problems in the power dispatching process.
The identification can then be served as reference in seeking
the optimal dispatching and management and guiding the
electric power investment.
So far, research activities have been extensively carried
out on the assessment of power systems. In [1, 2], a complete
index system for evaluating the reliability of power system is
proposed so that the adequacy and stability of a transmission
system can be analyzed by using the probability analysis and
Monte Carlo simulation method. A complete security
evaluation index system of power system is presented in [3].
The index system performs the assessment on security supply
capacity, static voltage security, topological structure
vulnerability, transient security, and risk indicators. In [4], an
evaluation index system is built up to check the performance
with respect to security, reliability, high quality, coordination,
economy, efficiency and intelligence. An evaluation index
system of power system operation based on the “resource-
saving and environment-friendly” concept is proposed in [5].
The index that can reflect a resource-saving and environment-
friendly power system is added to the evaluation index system
of security, reliability and economy. It is found that current
research on the evaluation index system of power system
operation focuses on the reliability and a small number of
related aspects, lack of a comprehensive evaluation of power
system operation.
This paper proposes an evaluation index system
considering the operating characteristics of power systems.
The index system, based on the integration of existing
evaluation indexes, can perform a comprehensive assessment
and help to ensure secure and economic operation of power
systems.
2 Building evaluation index system for power
system operation
The evaluation index system for power system operation
should meet the requirements of different parties. Therefore,
the unified evaluation principles should be established prior to
building up the comprehensive evaluation system.
2.1 Index selecting principles
The selection of the evaluation indexes for power system
operation should adhere to the following principles: 1)
scientific: the selected indicators should have theoretical basis;
2) completes: the indexes could be applied to all the situation
within the given scope; 3) comparable: the indexes should
accord with the similar indicators; 4) operational: the
indicators are supposed to be precise and have no overlaps
among them.
2.2 Relevant regulations
To promote thorough and standardized management
aimed at effective control on the risk of power system
operation, the dispatch department of State Grid in China has
established three institutions: “The operation analysis
institution of power system dispatching”, “The security
analysis institution of power system dispatching”, and “The
secondary equipment analysis institution of power system
dispatching(pilot)”, involved with security indexes, operation
indexes, and secondary equipment operation indexes. The
security indexes consist of the number of dispatching
accidents, the number of violations in regulations, the time
that the system frequency deviation is larger than 0.2Hz, and
the number of stations with unqualified voltage. The
operation indexes consist of the operation time that the
system frequency deviation is larger than 0.2Hz, the Generation capacity adequacy refers to the capacity of
qualification rate of voltage, the maximum /minimum the generation equipment in supplying required power to
coefficient of spinning reserve, and the accuracy of daily load customers uninterruptedly. It also means that it can maintain
forecasting. The secondary equipment operation indexes this capacity during peak load or with expected or moderately
consist of the availability and the rate of major relay systems unexpected breakdowns of generation equipment [6-8].
and devices in service, and the correct action rate of remote Generation capacity adequacy measures the balance risk
communication in the accident. between the generation capacity and the load demand, and the
The contents included in the three basic institutions will reliability of the network that connects generation equipment
be referred in building the evaluation index system for power with consumers is infinite. Furthermore, generation capacity
system operation. adequacy is a general measurement of the whole system, not
an index of a station or a load point. The general generation
2.3 Framework of the evaluation index system capacity adequacy indexes are shown in Table 1.
Network power supply vulnerability refers to the ability
Based on the existing study to the evaluation index to withstand the interruptions or breakdowns when the power
system for power system operation and the development level system is under normal conditions or under the effects of
of China’s power system, an evaluation system for power stochastic factors, and the potential trend and influence when
system operation is established to include five secondary the power system is unable to maintain a normal state.
indexes about reliability, economy, power quality, energy Interruption loss indexes are usually used to measure the
efficiency and fairness. In turn, the reliability index contains vulnerability. The general indexes are shown in Table 2 [9-
the adequacy and security indexes; the economy index 11].
contains the structural economy, dispatching economy and Power system can be considered as a combined system
accuracy of load forecasting indexes; the power quality index with different modules. A module tends to contain a few
contains the frequency and voltage indexes; the energy-saving generators, transmission and transformation equipment and
index contains the self-energy-saving and contribution to the load nodes. The module adequacy mainly includes module
society indexes; and the fairness index contains the supply capacity adequacy [12], module delivery capacity
satisfaction degree of the contracts’ implementation. On the adequacy and section/channel transmission capacity adequacy.
basis of this, an evaluation index system with five layers can The module adequacy evaluation comes from the point of
be established to guide the safe and economic operation of practical engineering, so the deterministic criteria can be
power system. taken as the evaluation standard. The module adequacy
evaluation indexes are shown in Table 3.
3 Main evaluation indexes for power system 3.1.2 Security
operation The security indexes reflect the capacity that the system
can withstand sudden disturbances and supply power to the
consumers constantly under dynamic conditions [13]. They
Some of the main evaluation indexes mentioned above are are composed of structural security and operational security
further discussed with more details. indexes.
The structural security refers to that the lines and
transformers are still within the limit and can keep the loads
3.1 Reliability uninterruptedly when certain components are out of function.
The reliability indexes are used to measure the capacity Commonly, only “N-1” screening is taken. Sometimes,
of uninterruptable power supply to consumers with the however, “N-2” screening and the short circuit current level
acceptable quality and quantity standards. The reliability of are also considered. “N-1” screening indexes consist of the
power system consists of the adequacy and security. “N-1” passing rate, the maximum of “N-1” load loss rate and
3.1.1 Adequacy the average rate of “N-1” load loss. “N-2” screening indexes
Power system adequacy evaluation can be divided into include the “N-2” passing rate, the maximum of “N-2” load
three parts, the generation capacity adequacy evaluation, the loss rate and the average rate of “N-2” load loss.
network power supply vulnerability evaluation and the
network module adequacy evaluation.
Indexes of deterministic criteria
Indices Introduction
The ratio of differences between available capacity and real-time load to
Reserve margin
real-time load
Maximum of the units out of service The ratio of maximum unit capacity to real-time load
……
Indexes of probabilistic risk criteria
Indices Introduction
LOLP(loss of load probability) The probability that system cannot meet the load demand in a given time
LOLE(lack of load expectation) The time that system cannot meet the load demand in a given time
 EDNS(expected demand not supplied) The power that system cannot meet the load demand in a given time
EENS(expected energy not supplied) The energy that system cannot meet the load demand in a given time
……
Table 1. The indices for generation capacity adequacy evaluation

Indices of deterministic criteria

Indices
Whether the power in the node or system is cut
off
Whether the system can keep in a healthy
operating state
Load losses in the node/system
Load loss rate in the node/system
Indices of probabilistic risk criteria
Indices
The probability that the node/system cuts loads
The probability that system keeps in a healthy
operating state
The expectations of power losses in the
node/system
The expectations of load loss rate in the
node/system
Table 2. The indices of power supply vulnerability
Introduction
Whether the system is able to maintain supplying in a given
collection of states
Whether the system can keep a healthy operating state in a given
collection of states
The load in the node/system to be cut for maintaining the security
of power system operation in a given collection of states
The ratio of load losses to power supply
Introduction
The probability that system cuts loads in a given collection of
states
The probability that system keeps in a healthy operating state in a
given collection of states
The expectations of loads are cut in the node/system for
maintaining the security of power system operation in a given
collection of states
The expectations of the ratio of load power to power supply

Index classification Indices Introduction

Maximum of the sum of all the load of the load nodes in the module
Maximum module supply capacity
The module supply within all the security constraints
capacity adequacy The ratio of differences between maximum module supply capacity
Margin of module supply capacity
and real-time load to maximum module supply capacity
Maximum of the sum of all the generators’ output in the module
Maximum module delivery capacity
within all the security constraints
The module delivery
The ratio of differences between maximum module delivery capacity
capacity adequacy Margin of module delivery capacity
and planned output to maximum module delivery capacity
Capacity utilization The ratio of maximum delivery capacity to the installed capacity
Maximum of the sum of power flow of section/channel within all the
The section/channel Maximum transmission capacity
security constraints
transmission capacity
The ratio of differences between maximum transmission capacity and
adequacy Margin of transmission capacity
real transmission power to maximum transmission capacity
Table 3. The adequacy indices of modules

The operational security indexes are used to analyze the
condition of a power system and assess the rationality of the
system operation mode, including indexes of tie-line
operation, power flow operation, load operation, primary
equipment and secondary equipment.
Tie-line indexes cover the tie-line utilization, tie-line
load ratio and tie-line blocking probability and so on. Power
flow indexes primarily record the times of the power flow of
important equipment or sections out of bounds for more than
ten minutes, the number of important equipment or sections
running in 90%-100% limit, and the number of important
equipment or sections out of bounds for three times
continuously in the N-1 screening based on the static security
analysis. Load indexes mainly consist of the
maximum/minimum unified dispatch load, and the synchronic
rate of maximum/minimum unified dispatch load. Primary
equipment indexes are about the availability, unplanned
outage rate and the mean time between the failures of
transformers, circuit breakers and overhead lines. Secondary
equipment indexes are mainly concerned with the correct
operating rate of relay protection, security control equipment
and communication system.
3.2 Economy
With respect to a power system, the economy is about to
achieve the best profits by adjusting the power system
operation mode to minimize line losses, making full use of
equipment, ensuring the security of the power system, and
meeting utility users’ demand. The economy indexes include
structural economy, dispatching economy and the accuracy of
load forecast indexes, all referring to the overall performance
of the power system design, construction and operation.
3.2.1 Structural economy
Due to the ever changing load, the rationality of the
power system structure turns out to be an important index
affecting the economy significantly. The structural index
consists of the ratio of transformer capacity to load, and the
compatibility between wires and transformers.
The ratio of transformer capacity to load is the ratio of
the total capacity of main transformers in one voltage level to
the corresponding total loads. The ratio of transformer
capacity to load of 220kV is within [1.6, 1.9], while that of
35kV or 110kV could be within [1.8, 2.1] [14].
The compatibility between wires and transformers is
similar to that between the wire economic load area and the
transformer economic operation region. The higher the
compatibility is, the more the transformers and wires are in
the economic state simultaneously, reflecting more reasonable
selections of wires and transformers in materials and types.
3.2.2 Dispatching economy
Energy-efficient dispatching has tremendous influence
on the costs of electricity purchasing. Because of the high
electricity price of renewable and clean energy, the costs of
electricity purchasing increase by a large margin. Energy-
efficient dispatching lowers the coal consumption and
pollutant emission, which has a profound impact on the
generators. Therefore, the index of dispatching economy
involves the costs of electricity purchasing, the average coal
consumption and the amount of pollution emission.
The costs of electricity purchasing are the expenses
including the capacity and electricity price, and the taxes,
determined by the law on electricity purchasing from power
plants or other grids. The average coal consumption refers to
the standard coal consumption for generating 1kWh energy in
thermal power plants and can be calculated based on one day,
one month or one year.
Pollutant in the thermal power plants mainly includes fly
ash, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and can
be calculated by
ª 1 96 2 º
Adj «1  ¦ Ei » u 100%
96 i 1
(3)
¬« ¼»
where Ldr and Ldf are the daily real and the forecasting load
with 96 points of time; Ei is the relative error on load
forecasting at one point; Adj is the accuracy of load
forecasting.
In the “Security evaluation on transmission network”
regulation, the load forecast accuracy should be higher than
98%.
3.3 Power quality
With the development of technology and economy, the
demands on power quality are becoming very discerning in
nowadays. Large deviation between the indexes’ value and
the required level could bring harm to power generation,
transmission and customers, and result in huge impact on the
over-all benefits of economy. Power quality is in terms of
voltage, current or frequency deviation that lead to failure or
abnormal operation of electric equipment. The power quality
indexes include frequency deviation, voltage deviation,
voltage fluctuations, voltage flicker index.
3.3.1 Frequency deviation
Frequency deviation is defined as the difference between
the actual values and the rating of power system frequency
under normal conditions, and can be calculated by
G f f re  f N (4)
where įf is the system frequency deviation; fre and fN are the
real and the rated frequency.
The frequency deviation value should be within ±0.2Hz
when the power system capacity is more than 3000MW.
When the power system capacity is less than 3000MW, the
frequency deviation can be within ±0.5Hz.
3.3.2 Voltage deviation
Voltage deviation refers to the percentage of the
difference between the real and the rated voltage to the rated
voltage:
G V Vre  VN  / VN u 100% (5)
P 2 u m u n u l u 1  s  (1)
where P is the emission amount of sulfur dioxide; m is the
coal consumption; n is the conversion from the sulfur of the
coal to sulfur dioxide; l and s are the total sulfur content in
coal and desulfurization efficiency.
Obviously, less pollutant emission per year indicates
higher level of dispatching economy.
3.2.3 The accuracy of load forecasting
The accuracy of load forecasting is divided into the load
where įV is the node voltage deviation; Vre and VN are the real
and the rated node voltage.
3.3.3 Voltage fluctuations
Voltage fluctuation is caused by a series of voltage
changes. The value of voltage fluctuation d can be expressed
as the percentage of the gap between two adjacent extreme
points on the fluctuation chrematistic curve to the rated
voltage VN. It can be described as:
forecasting of one day, one month or one year. Daily load
curve error is defined as the ratio of the absolute value of the
difference between the real and the forecasting load to the
forecasting load. The accuracy of load forecasting is the
difference between the unit and the root mean square of daily
load curve error sampled at 96 points of time:
Ldr  Ldf
Ei u 100% (2)
Ldf
d Vmax  Vmin  / VN u 100% (6)
3.3.4 Voltage flicker
Sensitivity caused by lamp light intensity can be divided
into short-time flicker and long-time flicker. Short-time
flicker is a statistical value to measure the flicker strength in a
short time. Long-time flicker can be calculated by the short-
time flicker, which reflects the flicker strength for a long time.
Flicker is defined as the measured value of maximum cycle of
fluctuating load changing in the normal condition. The
measuring cycle of short-time flicker and long-time flicker
are respectively set as ten minutes and two hours.
3.3.5 Voltage sag
Voltage sag has become one of the main problems
affecting power quality. It refers to the phenomena that
voltage encounters a sudden drop and then recovers to the
rated voltage within a short time.
IEEE P1564 gives a five-step framework of evaluation
system [15, 16]. A severity index of voltage sag is proposed
in IEEE P1564 as follows.
1V
Se (7)
promoted. The index for improvement of transmission ability
of the power system includes transmission ability and
electricity transferred within the regions.
3.4.2 The contribution to society
The main contents for promoting the energy efficiency
of societies include the optimal dispatch of the power system,
the acceptance of renewable energy connected, the promotion
of generation rights trade, the popularization of power
demand side management, and the development of electric
vehicles. The optimal dispatch of power system index
1  Vcurve  d 
where V and d refer to the voltage amplitude and the duration
of voltage sag; Vcurve(d) is the voltage amplitude which has the
same duration in the reference curves of CBEMA (Computer
Business Equipment Manufacturers Association), ITIC
(Information Technology Industry Council) and SEMI
(Semiconductor Equipment Materials International).
3.3.6 Three-phase unbalance
In the normal operation mode, three-phase unbalance
degree is defined as the ratio of the root-mean-square (RMS)
value of negative sequence to that of positive sequence based
on the symmetrical component method. It can be computed
by
H u V2 / V1 u 100% (8)
where İu is the degree of three-phase unbalance; V1 and V2 are
the RMS value of positive and negative sequence of voltage.
The normal voltage unbalanced degree on the common
node of power system is limited to 2% (and 4% for a short
period).
3.3.7 Harmonics
An important index of harmonics is the total harmonic
distortion rate, which indicates the extent of the distorted
waveform away from the sine wave caused by harmonics. It
is calculated as follows.
M
VTHD ¦V
k 2
k
2
/ V1 u 100% (9)
where VTHD is the total voltage harmonic distortion rate. Vk
and V1 are the RMS value of harmonic components and the
fundamental wave. M, usually below 50, indicates the highest
frequency harmonic component in consideration, determined
by the extent of waveform distortion and the accuracy
requirement.
3.4 Energy efficiency
In recent years, global warming caused by over-
consumption of fossil fuels becomes a major concern. In
order to alleviate the impact of greenhouse gas emissions, it is
necessary to optimize resource deployment and increase
energy efficiency in power and energy industries. The energy
efficiency index consists of the self energy-efficiency and the
contribution to the society.
3.4.1 Self energy efficiency
The main contents of self energy efficiency of a power
system include the promotion of the advanced technology and
the improvement of transmission ability of the power system.
The index for promotion of advanced technology consists of
the number and capacity of energy-saving technology
includes the number and capacity of the projects built for
cooperating with the shutoff of small thermal plants, and the
dispatching capacity of water-saving generation. The
acceptance of renewable energy connected index consists of
the electricity generated by renewable energy, the transferred
electricity of renewable energy, the amount of alternative coal
saving, and the amount of emission reductions. Power
demand side management index includes the number,
capacity, power saving of demand side management projects
and load reduction. Electric vehicles index consists of the
number and capacity of electric vehicle charging stations, the
total electric vehicle charging capacity, the amount of
alternative fuel saving, and the amount of emission reductions.
3.5 Fairness
The index for evaluating the dispatching fairness in
China consists of the fulfillment rate of contract and standard
deviation indexes [17]. Fulfillment rate refers to the ratio of
the real electricity generation to the planned. The methods
commonly used for evaluating the dispatching fairness are
max-min, standard deviation, weighed coefficient of variation,
Gini Coefficient, Theil Index, Atkinson Index, and the like.
Due to uncontrollable factors including the annual
electricity prediction error, the irrational dispatch, the limit of
the transmission section and main transformers, it is
necessary to modify the fulfillment rate index. Therefore, fair
power dispatch indexes based on the weighed coefficient of
variation and Gini Coefficient are proposed [18, 19]. The
fairness index only based on unit power completeness rate
can reflect the dispersion of unit contract complete rate while
that based on the differences among unit contracts can reflect
the dispersion of the amount of unit contracts completed. The
two indexes can adequately express the fairness of contract
implementation by the dispatching organization.
4 Conclusion
A new comprehensive evaluation index system for
power system operation is proposed on the basis of the
practical experience of dispatchers and the existing theoretical
achievements. In order to maintain the availability and
practicality of the evaluation results, the indexes presented in
the paper need to be tested and selected progressively by the
relevant sectors of power utilities so that an evaluation index
system for power system operation can be finally developed.
The proposed comprehensive set of evaluation indexes can
help to establish such an index system for the secure and
economic operation of power systems.
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