Dynamic Operational Reserve Margin Assessment from Risk-Constrained Unit Commitment States
Abstract
We propose Dynamic Reserve Margin (DRM) as a time-varying operational adequacy metric derived from risk-constrained unit commitment (RCUC) states. DRM quantifies reserve adequacy using the additional generation capacity that committed generators can provide within a 5-minute response window relative to uncertainty and contingency reserve requirements. We introduce a complementary Reserve Risk Envelope (RRE) metric to quantify operational reserve headroom in directly interpretable MW terms. A low-margin duration metric is further developed to quantify the persistence of reserve stress over an operating horizon. We use an IEEE 14-bus example to illustrate these concepts, followed by large-scale RCUC case studies under multiple operating scenarios. Results demonstrate that reserve requirements and ramp-accessible reserve capability can vary substantially across operating conditions, and that commitment decisions adapt to maintain reserve adequacy under changing system conditions. The proposed DRM and RRE metrics provide an interpretable operational characterization of reserve adequacy, reveal reserve accessibility and stress persistence that are not captured by conventional reserve margin metrics.
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BibTeX
@misc{shukla2026dynamic,
title = {{Dynamic Operational Reserve Margin Assessment from Risk-Constrained Unit Commitment States}},
author = {Pratishtha Shukla and Shaked Regev and Evan J. R. Brody and Charles Foltz and Teja Kuruganti},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.03066},
eprint = {2609.03066},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.03066},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Dynamic Operational Reserve Margin Assessment from Risk-Constrained Unit Commitment States
AU - Pratishtha Shukla
AU - Shaked Regev
AU - Evan J. R. Brody
AU - Charles Foltz
AU - Teja Kuruganti
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/02
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.03066
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.03066
AB - We propose Dynamic Reserve Margin (DRM) as a time-varying operational adequacy metric derived from risk-constrained unit commitment (RCUC) states. DRM quantifies reserve adequacy using the additional generation capacity that committed generators can provide within a 5-minute response window relative to uncertainty and contingency reserve requirements. We introduce a complementary Reserve Risk Envelope (RRE) metric to quantify operational reserve headroom in directly interpretable MW terms. A low-margin duration metric is further developed to quantify the persistence of reserve stress over an operating horizon. We use an IEEE 14-bus example to illustrate these concepts, followed by large-scale RCUC case studies under multiple operating scenarios. Results demonstrate that reserve requirements and ramp-accessible reserve capability can vary substantially across operating conditions, and that commitment decisions adapt to maintain reserve adequacy under changing system conditions. The proposed DRM and RRE metrics provide an interpretable operational characterization of reserve adequacy, reveal reserve accessibility and stress persistence that are not captured by conventional reserve margin metrics.
ER -