Frequency response and its enhancement using synchronous condensers in presence of high wind penetration

Abstract

In recent years wind power integration has substantially increased in southern states of Australia. At present South Australia has the highest wind generation capacity of any region across the country. This large capacity penetration would likely displace existing synchronous generation fleet. These wind generators have neither enough inertia response nor governor support to control major frequency excursion. Under high wind power availability and cheaper import from neighboring region, South Australian grid could depend on few synchronous machines for frequency regulation. Under such a scenario, a big contingency may produce a severe frequency excursion in the network. Consequently, system may face a considerable amount of load shedding, which may degrade the standard of network service quality. To understand these issues, this paper investigates frequency response of a power system in presence of high wind penetration. The network under consideration loosely represents South Australian power system. Additional frequency control strategy, such as deployment of synchronous condensers to enhance network frequency response is also studied.