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Fundamental Control Performance Limitations for Interarea Oscillation Damping and Frequency Stability

Time: Tue 2021-06-01 15.00

Location: https://kth-se.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_7MusEV_WRgCNGqMny6YLIw, F3, Lindstedsvägen 26, Stockholm (English)

Subject area: Electrical Engineering

Doctoral student: Joakim Björk , Reglerteknik, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan

Opponent: Professor Joe H. Chow, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering

Supervisor: Professor Karl H. Johansson, Signaler, sensorer och system, Reglerteknik, ACCESS Linnaeus Centre; Adjungerad Professor Lennart Harnefors, Elkraftteknik, ABB, Corporate Research

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Abstract

With the transition towards renewable energy and the deregulation of the electricity markets, the power system is changing. Growing electricity demand and more intermittent power production increase the need for transfer capacity. Lower inertia levels due to a higher share of renewables increase the need for fast frequency reserves (FFR). In this thesis, we study fundamental control limitations for improving the damping of interarea oscillations and frequency stability.

The first part of the thesis considers the damping of oscillatory interarea modes. These system-wide modes involve power oscillating between groups of generators and are sometimes hard to control due to their scale and complexity. We consider limitations of decentralized control schemes based on local measurements, as well as centralized control schemes with limitations associated to actuator dynamics and network topology. It is shown that the stability of asynchronous grids can be improved by modulating the active power of a single interconnecting high-voltage direct current (HVDC) link. One challenge with modulating HVDC active power is that the interaction between interarea modes of the two grids may have a negative impact on system stability. By studying the controllability Gramian, we show that it is possible to improve the damping in both grids as long as the frequencies of their interarea modes are not too close. It is demonstrated how the controllability, and therefore the achievable damping, deteriorates as the frequency difference becomes small. With a modal frequency difference of 5%, the damping can be improved by around 2 percentage points whereas a modal frequency difference of 20% allows for around 8 percentage points damping improvement. The results are validated by simulating two HVDC-interconnected 32-bus power system models. We also consider the coordinated control of two and more HVDC links. For some network configurations, it is shown that the interaction between troublesome interarea modes can be avoided. 

The second part considers the coordination of frequency containment reserves (FCR) in low-inertia power systems. A case study is performed in a 5-machine model of the Nordic synchronous grid. We consider a low-inertia test case where FCR are provided by hydro power. The non-minimum phase characteristic of the waterways limits the achievable bandwidth of the FCR control. It is shown that a consequence of this is that hydro-FCR fails at keeping the frequency nadir above the 49.0 Hz safety limit following the loss of a HVDC link that imports 1400 MW. To improve the dynamic frequency stability, FFR from wind power is considered. For this, a new wind turbine model is developed. The turbine is controlled at variable-speed, enabling FFR by temporarily borrowing energy from the rotating turbine. The nonlinear wind turbine dynamics are linearized to facilitate a control design that coordinate FFR from the wind with slow FCR from hydropower. Complementary wind resources with a total rating of 2000 MW, operating at 70–90% rated wind speeds, is shown to be more than enough to fulfill the frequency stability requirements. The nadir is kept above 49.0 Hz without the need to install battery storage or to waste wind energy by curtailing the wind turbines.

urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-293532