Synthetic Inertia from Wind

Turbine Generation

Midwest Reliability Organization Randy Voges

2017 Fall Reliability Conference Sr Grid Interfaces Engineer
St. Paul, MN GE Renewable Energy
October 25, 2017 Schenectady, NY USA
randal.voges@ge.com
 Synthetic Inertia from Wind
Turbine Generation
October 25, 2017
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Why?   System Needs 
Large Grids with significant penetration of wind (and solar PV) power

• Modern variable speed wind turbine‐generators do not 
contribute to system inertia 
• System inertia declines as wind generation displaces  
synchronous generators (which are de‐committed)
• Result is deeper, faster frequency excursions for system 
disturbances
• Increased risk of under‐frequency load shedding (UFLS) and 
cascading outages

Synthetic Inertia from Wind Turbine Generation Randy Voges
October 25, 2017      St. Paul, MN 3
GE Renewable Energy
A little history…

• The preceding slide was used in 2009, for initial marketing of 
this concept.
• Many of us thought “We’ll use the turbine’s inertia to help 
counteract the decline in synchronous inertia!”
• We “can use control to ‘synthesize’ inertia, through the 
power electronics”.
• “Synthetic Inertia” seems like a good name (or is it?)….more 
on this later….

Synthetic Inertia from Wind Turbine Generation Randy Voges
October 25, 2017      St. Paul, MN 4
GE Renewable Energy
 (Initial) Control Concept 
• Use controls to extract stored inertial energy
• Provide incremental arresting energy (meaning kW‐s) 
during the first 10 seconds of grid events.
• Allow time for governors and other controls to act
• Target incremental energy similar to that provided by a 
synchronous turbine‐generator with inertia (H constant) 
of 3.5 pu‐sec. 
• Focus on functional behavior and grid response: 
do NOT try to exactly replicate synchronous 
machine behavior

Goal: Have the best impact on frequency nadir for the 
available power and energy
Synthetic Inertia from Wind Turbine Generation Randy Voges
October 25, 2017      St. Paul, MN GE Renewable Energy
Conventional Synchronous Machine Inertial Response

Synthetic Inertia from Wind Turbine Generation Randy Voges
October 25, 2017      St. Paul, MN 6
GE Renewable Energy
Constraints…
• Not possible to increase wind speed
• Avoid stall (slowing wind turbine reduces aerodynamic lift)
• Must respect WTG component mechanical & electrical ratings
• Maintain stability of controls

….and Warnings
• Not all settings are good for each application
• Be aware of tradeoffs in performance 
(especially during the recovery period….)
• Faster isn’t necessarily better
• How low can you go (pre‐trigger power)?

Synthetic Inertia from Wind Turbine Generation Randy Voges
October 25, 2017      St. Paul, MN 7
GE Renewable Energy
 How does it work?
Basic components of a Double‐fed Asynchronous Wind Turbine Generator:

Electrical Power Delivered to Grid

3  AC Windings
Machine Terminals

f net
Wind
P stator

f rotor
P rotor
P rotor P conv
F rotor F network

Wind Turbine

Converter
Wound-Rotor Generator

Synthetic Inertia from Wind Turbine Generation Randy Voges
October 25, 2017      St. Paul, MN 8
GE Renewable Energy
How does it work? (part 2)
Basic machine equations for all rotating machines Basic Notation:

Mechanical Torque, Tm Electrical Torque, Te

J   is the inertia of the entire 
drive‐train in physical units
H is the inertia constant –
it is scaled to the size of the 
machine.  
• A typical synchronous 
turbine‐generator has an 
H of about 3.5 MW‐
sec/MW. 
d 2
1 J ωmo
J  T a  T m  Te H 
dt 2 VAbase

Kinetic Energy Stored in the Rotor (Watt - sec)

H 
VA base

Synthetic Inertia from Wind Turbine Generation Randy Voges
October 25, 2017      St. Paul, MN 9
GE Renewable Energy
How does it work? (part 3)
Mechanical Torque, Tm Electrical Torque, Te

• In steady‐state, torques must be balanced
• When electrical torque is greater than mechanical torque, 
the rotation slows, extracting stored inertial energy from the rotating mass

Synthetic Inertia from Wind Turbine Generation Randy Voges
October 25, 2017      St. Paul, MN 10
GE Renewable Energy
 What’s different?

Synchronous Generator Wind Turbine*

Governor Response /  Pitch Control / 
Mechanical Power
Fuel Flow Control Uncontrolled Wind Speed

Machine Angle (d‐q Axis) /  Converter Control / 
Electrical Power
Passive Active
Inherent / 
Inertial Response By Control Action
Uncontrolled
* Variable speed, pitch controlled WTGs

Synthetic Inertia from Wind Turbine Generation Randy Voges
October 25, 2017      St. Paul, MN 11
GE Renewable Energy
 How does it work? (part 4)
Mechanical Torque is a function of: Electrical Torque is a function of:
(1) Wind Speed (1) Converter Control
(2) Blade Pitch (2) Commands from Turbine Control
(3) Blade Speed ( ά Rotor Speed)

Synthetic inertia uses controls to increase electric power during the initial stages 
of a significant downward frequency event
Synthetic Inertia from Wind Turbine Generation Randy Voges
October 25, 2017      St. Paul, MN 12
GE Renewable Energy
What happens during a grid event?
1) Disturbance (e.g., generator trip) initiates grid frequency decline
2) Controls detect significant frequency drop
3) Instructs WTG controls to increase electrical power
4) Additional electric power delivered to the grid
5) Rate and depth of grid frequency excursion improves
6) WTG slows as energy extracted from inertia; lift drops
7) Other grid controls, especially governors, engage to restore grid 
frequency towards nominal
8) Controls release increased power instruction
9) WTG electric power drops, to allow recovery of rotational inertial 
energy and energy lost to temporarily reduced lift
10) Transient event ends with grid restored

Synthetic Inertia from Wind Turbine Generation Randy Voges
October 25, 2017      St. Paul, MN 13
GE Renewable Energy
Control Overview . . .  a possible approach
Frequency Deadband Limiter
Terminal - Error Power Turbine
Frequency Washout Washout
Shaping Controls
+
Generator
Power
Reference
Order
Frequency
To
Converter
Controls

Advantage of this approach:  it is highly flexible, allowing controls to be 
customized to the maximum benefit of the host grid.

Synthetic Inertia from Wind Turbine Generation Randy Voges
October 25, 2017      St. Paul, MN 14
GE Renewable Energy
Example: 
14GW, mostly hydro system, for trip of a large generator
60.5
1000 MW Synchronous Machine
1000 MW Wind without WindINERTIA
1000 MW Wind with Simple WindINERTIA Model (Rated Wind Speed)
60.0
Wind Plant POI Bus Frequency (Hz)

With WindINERTIA
59.5 frequency excursion
is ~21% better

59.0

58.5 Reference Case

Without WindINERTIA frequency

excursion is ~4% worse
58.0
0 10 Time (Seconds) 20 30

Minimum frequency is the critical performance concern for reliability
Synthetic Inertia from Wind Turbine Generation Randy Voges
October 25, 2017      St. Paul, MN 15
GE Renewable Energy
Example: (cont.) 
60.5
1000 MW Synchronous Machine
1000 MW Wind without WindINERTIA
1000 MW Wind with Simple WindINERTIA (Wind Speed above Rated)
1000 MW Wind with Simple WindINERTIA Model (Rated Wind Speed)
60.0
Wind Plant POI Bus Frequency (

With WindINERTIA
59.5
frequency excursion
is ~21-23% better

59.0

Range of possible
recovery characterisics
58.5

58.0
0 10 Time (Seconds) 20 30

Performance is a function of wind and other conditions: 
not perfectly deterministic like synchronous machine inertial response
Synthetic Inertia from Wind Turbine Generation Randy Voges
October 25, 2017      St. Paul, MN 16
GE Renewable Energy
 Big System Example:  Source: Western Wind & Solar 
Frequency Control on Wind Plants Integration Study Phase 3 – Frequency 
Response and Transient Stability

40% of wind 
plants (e.g., 
new ones) had 
these controls, 
for a total of 
300 MW initial 
curtailment out 
of 27GW 
production.

Synthetic Inertia from Wind Turbine Generation Randy Voges
October 25, 2017      St. Paul, MN 17
GE Renewable Energy
Field Tests: Approach and Constraints
Not possible to drive grid frequency

Controls driven with an external frequency signal
(very similar to frequency of previous example)
Performance a function of wind speed
(also, not possible to hold wind speed constant during tests)
Since WTG must respect other controls
• Turbulence & drivetrain and tower loads management affect 
performance of individual WTGs at any particular instant
• Exact performance of single WTG for a single test is not too 
meaningful
• Aggregate behavior of interest to grid

Synthetic Inertia from Wind Turbine Generation Randy Voges
October 25, 2017      St. Paul, MN 18
GE Renewable Energy
 Field Tests: Results
1800

1500

1200
Power (kW)

900

600

300 8 m/s Avg Meas 10 m/s Avg Meas 14 m/s Avg Meas

Test count:
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 8 m/s
80 - 19 tests
Time (Seconds) 10 m/s – 19 tests
14 m/s – 52 tests

Synthetic Inertia from Wind Turbine Generation Randy Voges
October 25, 2017      St. Paul, MN 19
GE Renewable Energy
 Simulations
1800

1500

1200
Power (kW)

900

600

8 m/s Avg Meas 10 m/s Avg Meas 14 m/s Avg Meas

300
8 m/s PSLF 10 m/s PSLF 14 m/s PSLF

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Time (Seconds)

Simulations capture key aspects of observed field performance.
Synthetic Inertia from Wind Turbine Generation Randy Voges
October 25, 2017      St. Paul, MN 20
GE Renewable Energy
 So…..What’s New?
Boost Level Source: IESO (Ontario) Performance 
Validation document Issue 7.0 dated 
June 7, 2017
Pre-trigger

Activation Boost Period

Recovery & Reset Period
Time

Deadband

Synthetic Inertia from Wind Turbine Generation Randy Voges
October 25, 2017      St. Paul, MN 21
GE Renewable Energy
 A Change in Terminology?
Inertial control responds to frequency drops only in 0.5-10 second time
frame:
• Uses inertial energy from rotating wind turbine to supply power to system
• Requires energy recovery from system to return wind turbines to nominal
speed
• Is more
This responsive at higher
is Fast Frequency wind speeds
Response, NOT System Inertial Response.
In the language of NERC Essential Reliability Services:

Governor control responds:

• To both frequency drops and increases
• In 5-60 second time frame
• This
Requires curtailment
is either to be able
Fast Frequency to increase
Response, orpower
Primary Frequency Response
(depending
In the language of NERCon aggressiveness of the control)
Essential Reliability Services:
Suggested term (?): “Inertia-based Fast Frequency Control
(IBFFR)"

Synthetic Inertia from Wind Turbine Generation Randy Voges

October 25, 2017 St. Paul, MN 22
GE Renewable Energy
Summary and Conclusion
• Need and demand for inertial response from WTGs has been growing, and 
GE has offered this feature to meet this need since 2009.
• Other OEMs are offering other inertia‐based controls.
• Diverse approaches are being offered (and developed) today.
• Fundamental physical differences in WTGs mean that inertial behavior is 
not identical to synchronous machines.   
• Probably better termed a Fast‐Frequency Response (FFR) rather than 
surrogate‐synchronous inertia.
• Emerging grid codes are starting to require FFR; the codes must recognize 
physical reality, constraints, and tradeoffs.
• Final thought: Difference between ‘can’ and ‘should’.

Synthetic Inertia from Wind Turbine Generation Randy Voges
October 25, 2017      St. Paul, MN 23
GE Renewable Energy
Thanks
randal.voges@ge.com

Synthetic Inertia from Wind Turbine Generation Randy Voges
October 25, 2017      St. Paul, MN 24
GE Renewable Energy