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Inertia
Alois Lechner, Ph.D.
ANDRITZ HYDRO
Vienna, Austria
1 Introduction
With the conventional setup of a grid connected generator, the inertia of the rotating parts is
electromagnetically coupled to the grid. A change in the grid frequency is inevitable leading to a
change of generator speed, the corresponding change of the energy stored in the rotating inertias
is supporting the grid frequency stabilisation. The grid inertia was thereby a value provided by
the nature of electromagnetical energy conversion, therefore usually no efforts to increase the
grid inertia were taken.
In the last years power electronic converters controlling the power flow are growing both in
number and in size, coming either from the renewable power sources wind and solar or from
HV-DC transmission lines. Most of the units operating with power electronic converters are not
changing the power flow if the grid frequency changes. Especially for islanded grids the
corresponding decrease of stabilizing inertia is starting to worry the authorities responsible for
grid quality ([1], [2], [3], [4]).
2 Grid inertia
2.1 Key indicator: inertia constant H
The value representing best the stabilizing function of the grid inertia is the inertia constant H,
which is calculated as energy stored in rotating parts divided by nominal apparent power
(equ. 1).
(1)
The same definition can be applied to a whole grid, with all power plants contributing according
their individual Hi and averaged with their individual nominal power Si (equ. 2). The higher the
resulting Hgrid, the less are both maximum grid frequency deviation and rate of change of
frequency (RoCoF).
(2)
The grid frequency deviation exceeding the set limit of protection devices (typically ~1.6%) may
cause a chain reaction including blackout. High RoCoF values are favouring inter-grid
oscillations, again an area of concern for grid quality considerations.
Diagram 1: Inertia constant range for common power plant technologies ([5], [6])
range for the most common power plant technologies. The resulting grid inertia constant Hgrid is
depending on the technology mix in the grid, Hgrid=5s is a reasonable estimate if no information
about the technology mix is available.
Diagram 3: Grid frequency response to a drop in power production with varying inertia
constant
calculated with the physical inertia (equ. 1) would be 3s, with KV=5 the system behaves like a
conventional system with the inertia constant 15s (diagram 5).
It has to be mentioned that in a converter setup an appropriate control algorithm is necessary
even if only the physical inertia is set to react to grid frequency changes. By default, the coupling
of the frequencies on the both sides of the converter is 0.
Physical Inertia
Grid
Converter
J_virt
Virtual Inertia
Diagram 5: Realisation of virtual inertia by converter control
usually by optimizing system efficiency. This is the main drawback of this controller option, as
the duration of a grid frequency deviation may last for some time until the grid operators are able
to rebalance the power flow. The main advantages are a very simple control strategy and low
requirements for the hydraulic control components.
Diagram 6: Turbine speed reaction to grid frequency drop for selected speed controllers
Choice (b) is mainly focussing on keeping the turbine speed near to the hydraulic operation point
for undisturbed operation, which is the main advantage of this controller options. The main
disadvantage is that the hydraulic control is counteracting the speed change caused by vitual
inertia control and therefore shows significant control action during or following the grid
frequency disturbance.
Choice (c) is a compromise between choice (a) and choice (b), combining most of the advantages
without adding up the drawbacks. The turbine speed is not sent back to the hydraulic operation
point for undisturbed operation immediately, but following a lag function. Thereby the long
lasting speed deviation of (a) is avoided, and the hydraulic control is rather following a ramp
change instead of a step change, resulting in reduced stress on hydraulic control elements.
For KV=1 (grid inertia equals physical inertia) the turbine speed reaction to an assumed grid
frequency drop is shown in diagram 6, the corresponding gate opening of the turbine is shown in
diagram 7. The turbine speed for choice (c) reaches the speed value of the undisturbed operation
point in the same time as choice (a), but with a similar control movement on the gate opening as
choice (b). Therefore, the choice (c) was used for the rest of the simulations as turbine speed
controller.
Diagram 7: Turbine gate reaction to grid frequency drop for selected speed controllers
Especially when setting the grid inertia to a higher level than the physical inertia, the desired
value for grid power may exceed the converter limit during the grid frequency change. Such a
reaction can is outlined in diagram 8, where the virtual inertia is set five times the grid inertia.
The first and very practical approach is to limit the set values for grid power without other
action, which is very easy to achieve by leaving the job of limitation to the converter control only
(see diagram 8). The significant drawback is that the resulting grid inertia support is depending
on the operation point, e.g. the higher the power set value in undisturbed condition the lower the
energy supplied during the frequency drop which means in outcome lower grid inertia. An
alternative strategy is so calculate the energy which would have been delivered to the grid if no
converter limits would apply. This energy will in total be delivered to the grid, which means the
time span of increased grid power is prolonged, see diagram 9. This strategy supports the
restoration of the grid frequency to its nominal value.
Diagram 9: Grid power controlled to supply grid inertia changes with converter power limit
Diagram 11: Grid power response to frequency drop for variation of inertia scaling factor KV
Diagram 12: Reaction of turbine gate opening for variation of inertia scaling factor KV
Diagram 13: Reaction of turbine speed for variation of inertia scaling factor KV
Diagram 14: Reaction of hydraulic flow for variation of inertia scaling factor KV
5 Conclusion
Combining the flexibility of power electronic converters with the robustness of hydro power
equipment opens the opportunity for supporting grid inertia with a multiple of the physical
inertia [14]. The influence on the hydraulic system is moderate. The limits of the virtual inertia
which can be supplied are given by the capabilities of the converter and so depend also on the
pre-fault operation point.
Supporting grid stability with inertia is always valuable from technical point of view. If this
reasonable behaviour will be commercially rewarded is at discussion at the moment and will
probably depend on the inherent stability of the grid, thus its cumulated inertia constant. The
weaker a grid, the more importance should be given to improve stabilization. Especially in
islanded grids the inertia topic may become very important ([15], [16]). For the future, in
addition to grid inertia other stabilising functions supporting the grid with immediate power in
case of grid problems can be implemented as well.
6 References
[1]
[2]
[3]
M. Tsili and S. Papathanassiou, A review of grid code technical requirements for wind
farms, Renewable Power Generation, IET, vol. 3, pp. 308-332, 2009.
[4]
National Grid. (2010). Grid Code Frequency Response Working Group: Simulated
Inertia. Available:
http://www.nationalgrid.com/uk/Electricity/Codes/gridcode/workinggroups/freqresp/.
[5]
P. Anderson and A. Fouad, Power System and Stability, Piscataway, US. Wiley IEEE
Press, 2002.
[6]
P. Tielens and D. Van Hertem, Grid inertia and frequency control in power systems with
high penetration of renewables, Young Researchers Symposium in Electrical Power
Engineering, Delft, vol. 6, April 2012.
[7]
J.F. Conroy and R. Watson, Frequency Response Capability of Full Converter Wind
Turbine Generators in Comparison to Conventional Generation, IEEE Transactions on
Power Systems, vol.23, no.2, pp.649,656, May 2008.
[8]
[9]
[10] K. Visscher and S. W. H. De Haan, Virtual synchronous machines (VSGs) for frequency
stabilisation in future grids with a significant share of decentralized generation, in Proc.
IET-CIRED Semin. Smart-Grids Distrib., Jun. 2008, pp. 14.
[11] J. Hell, M. Egretzberger, A. Lechner, R. Schrhuber and Y. Vaillant. Full Size converter
solutions for Pumped Storage Plants A promising new technology, HYDRO 2012, 29.
31. Oct. 2012, Bilbao, Spain.
[12] A. Lechner, R. Schrhuber and J. Hell. Comparison of fixed speed and different variable
speed concepts for a large scale pumped storage plant, HYDRO 2013, 7.-9. Oct. 2013,
Innsbruck, Austria.
[13] SIMSEN: Modular Simulation Software for the Analysis of Energy Conversion Systems,
Simsen.epfl.ch, EPFL cole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne, EPFL-LME, CH-1015
Lausanne, Switzerland.
[14] J. Hell, M. Egretzberger, A. Lechner and Y. Vaillant. Power balancing in the grid a
dynamic approach with a pumped storage unit, POWER-GEN Europe 2013 Conference,
4.-6. Jun. 2013, Vienna, Austria.
[15] G. Delille, B. Francois and G. Malarange, Dynamic Frequency Control Support: A
Virtual Inertia Provided by Distributed Energy Storage to Isolated Power Systems,
Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference Europe, 11-13 Oct. 2010.
[16] N. Hamsic, A. Schmelter, A. Mohd, E. Ortjohann, E. Schultze, A. Tuckey and J.
Zimmermann, Increasing Renewable Energy Penetration in Isolated Grids Using a
Flywheel Energy Storage System, International Conference on Power Engineering,
Energy and Electrical Drives, 12-14 April 2007, pp. 195-200.
The Author
Alois Lechner is a member of the Electrical Power System division of ANDRITZ HYDRO,
Vienna, Austria. After receiving his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Vienna University of
Technology in 1991, he specialized on high performance and high accuracy variable speed drives
within the VA TECH group and after 2005 for Schneider Electric. In March 2011 he joined
ANDRITZ HYDRO to work in the field of variable speed power generation.