Power systems with high renewable energy sources: A review of inertia and frequency control strategies over time

Traditionally, inertia in power systems has been determined by considering all the rotating masses directly connected to the grid. During the last decade, the integration of renewable energy sources, mainly photovoltaic installations and wind power plants, has led to a significant dynamic characteristic change in power systems. This change is mainly due to the fact that most renewables have power electronics at the grid interface. The overall impact on stability and reliability analysis of power systems is very significant. The power systems become more dynamic and require a new set of strategies modifying traditional generation control algorithms. Indeed, renewable generation units are decoupled from the grid by electronic converters, decreasing the overall inertia of the grid. ‘Hidden inertia’, ‘synthetic inertia’ or ‘virtual inertia’ are terms currently used to represent artificial inertia created by converter control of the renewable sources. Alternative spinning reserves are then needed in the new power system with high penetration renewables, where the lack of rotating masses directly connected to the grid must be emulated to maintain an acceptable power system reliability. This paper reviews the inertia concept in terms of values and their evolution in the last decades, as well as the damping factor values. A comparison of the rotational grid inertia for traditional and current averaged generation mix scenarios is also carried out. In addition, an extensive discussion on wind and photovoltaic power plants and their contributions to inertia in terms of frequency control strategies is included in the paper.This work was supported by the Spanish Education, Culture and Sports Ministry [FPU16/04282]

State of the Art in the Optimisation of Wind Turbine Performance Using CFD

Wind energy has received increasing attention in recent years due to its sustainability and geographically wide availability. The efficiency of wind energy utilisation highly depends on the performance of wind turbines, which convert the kinetic energy in wind into electrical energy. In order to optimise wind turbine performance and reduce the cost of next-generation wind turbines, it is crucial to have a view of the state of the art in the key aspects on the performance optimisation of wind turbines using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), which has attracted enormous interest in the development of next-generation wind turbines in recent years. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art progress on optimisation of wind turbine performance using CFD, reviewing the objective functions to judge the performance of wind turbine, CFD approaches applied in the simulation of wind turbines and optimisation algorithms for wind turbine performance. This paper has been written for both researchers new to this research area by summarising underlying theory whilst presenting a comprehensive review on the up-to-date studies, and experts in the field of study by collecting a comprehensive list of related references where the details of computational methods that have been employed lately can be obtained

New contributions to frequency control based on virtual synchronous generators: application to power systems with high renewable energy sources integration

[SPA] Esta tesis doctoral se presenta bajo la modalidad de compendio de publicaciones. Tradicionalmente, servicios como la regulación y mantenimiento de la frecuencia de los sistemas eléctricos, cobertura de la demanda eléctrica o la existencia de las reservas rodantes (spinning reserves) han sido suministrados y asegurados por las fuentes de generación de energía eléctrica tradicionales. Sin embargo, los sistemas eléctricos han sufrido una serie de cambios en los últimos años que están afectando de manera directa al propio funcionamiento de los mismos. Por un lado, el aumento constante del consumo de energía y de la intensidad del propio uso energético, unido al aumento de las restricciones legislativas medioambientales, y por otro el concepto de la energía eléctrica como un producto comercial junto con la liberalización de los mercados energéticos, hacen que se tambaleen algunas de las premisas hasta ahora asumidas. En este sentido, y en un entorno de promoción de recursos renovables, hace que los servicios hasta ahora proporcionados sólo por la generación clásica deben también ser compartidos por todos los puntos de generación. No obstante, la alta penetración de este tipo de fuentes renovables en el sector eléctrico acarrea una seria de cuestiones derivadas de sus características y peculiaridades que es necesario abordar antes de proceder de manera masiva a su integración y, por tanto, a la independencia de la generación convencional. Adicionalmente, y debido a la naturaleza variable de la generación renovable (principalmente el viento y el sol) recobra mayor importancia el asegurar por parte de los organismos reguladores una reserva energética que permita actuar de manera eficiente y fiel en casos de desequilibrio de potencias. En este nuevo escenario, en el que el director de tesis ha trabajado a lo largo de la última década, se hace necesario contar con el desarrollo y adaptación de nuevas herramientas y soluciones que faciliten la integración de fuentes renovables sin que ello suponga una merma en las capacidades del sistema eléctrico en términos de estabilidad y de respuesta ante contingencias. Así pues, el objetivo principal de esta tesis consiste en el estudio, implementación y evaluación de sistemas eléctricos con alta penetración de recurso eólico y fotovoltaico con el fin de evaluar posibles soluciones para emular inercias virtuales y respuestas similares a las que se obtendrían con generación clásica, integrando así de manera efectiva el recurso renovable al control de la frecuencia del sistema eléctrico. En este escenario, resultaría crucial poder aliviar en parte las necesidades de almacenamiento de energía a los puntos de generación mediante la implementación de estrategias alternativas de control de respuesta ante excursiones de frecuencia en las unidades renovables, aportando éstas el apoyo necesario para mantener la frecuencia de red dentro de los límites establecidos. Por tanto, la solución aquí estudiada favorecería la integración masiva de recursos renovables, dentro de un escenario de estabilidad del sistema eléctrico apoyado por estas instalaciones, y donde la eliminación paulatina de elementos rotativos directamente conectados a la red debe sustituirse y/o emularse de manera que el sistema eléctrico ofrezca la misma fiabilidad que se percibe ante la presencia de generación convencional. Sólo así se conseguirá fomentar de manera argumentada las posibilidades tangibles de integración a gran escala de recursos renovables, adelantándonos a las necesidades que surgirán de manera inevitable como consecuencia de la disminución inicial de inercia del sistema (entendida de una manera clásica como elementos rotativos directamente conectados a red) y como consecuencia de la entrada de fuentes que poseen una variabilidad en sus niveles de generación. Destacar igualmente la importancia cada vez mayor del control de la frecuencia del sistema eléctrico, debido a la sensibilidad y dependencia que poseen de este parámetro la mayoría de las cargas y equipos con algún tipo de etapa de electrónica de potencia.[ENG] This doctoral dissertation has been presented in the form of thesis by publication. Over the last decades, most countries have been suffering an electrical energy transition, changing from a model based on non-renewable sources (mainly based on fossil fuels), to a new framework characterised by the integration of renewable energy resources (RES). These important changes have been mainly supported by the development of power electronics, environmental protection policies, and the need to reduce energy dependence on third countries. Moreover, the electrical sector stands out because of the diversity and heterogeneity of sources that can generate electricity. As a result, the current electrical scenario includes a high interest in the integration of variable renewable energy sources (vRES) shifting towards a new generation mix. In fact, these vRES (mainly photovoltaic and wind power installations) already play a relevant role, as some European countries have experienced generation levels over 50% during some time-periods of last years. As aforementioned, the two most mature renewable resources integrated into power systems are solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind power (especially variable speed wind turbines, VSWTs). Together with the integration of these two sources, and in contrast to traditional grids based on conventional power plants (i.e., hydro-power, thermal, and nuclear power plants), several important issues have emerged, needing to be analysed, assessed, and resolved.Los artículos que constituyen la tesis son los siguientes: 1. Fernández-Guillamón, Ana & Gómez-Lázaro, Emilio & Muljadi, Eduard & Molina-García, Ángel, 2019. "Power systems with high renewable energy sources: A review of inertia and frequency control strategies over time," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 115(C). 2. Ana Fernández-Guillamón & Jorge Villena-Lapaz & Antonio Vigueras-Rodríguez & Tania García-Sánchez & Ángel Molina-García, 2018. "An Adaptive Frequency Strategy for Variable Speed Wind Turbines: Application to High Wind Integration Into Power Systems,"Energies, MDPI, Open Access Journal, vol. 11(6), pages 1-21, June. 3. Fernández-Guillamón, A.; Vigueras-Rodríguez, A.; Gómez-Lázaro, E.; Molina-García, Á. Fast Power Reserve Emulation Strategy for VSWT Supporting Frequency Control in Multi-Area Power Systems. Energies 2018, 11, 2775. https://doi.org/10.3390/en11102775. 4. Fernández-Guillamón, Ana & Sarasúa, José & Chazarra, Manuel & Vigueras-Rodríguez, Antonio & Fernández-Muñoz, Daniel & Molina-Garcia, Ángel. (2020). Frequency control analysis based on unit commitment schemes with high wind power integration: A Spanish isolated power system case study. International Journal of Electrical Power & Energy Systems. 121. 106044. 10.1016/j.ijepes.2020.106044. 5. Fernández‐Guillamón, A., Vigueras‐Rodríguez, A. and Molina‐García, Á. (2019), Analysis of power system inertia estimation in high wind power plant integration scenarios. IET Renewable Power Generation, 13: 2807-2816. https://doi.org/10.1049/iet-rpg.2019.0220. 6. Fernández Guillamón, Ana; Martínez de Lucas, Guillermo; Molina García, Ángel y Sarasúa Moreno, José Ignacio (2020). An Adaptive Control Scheme for Variable Speed Wind Turbines Providing Frequency Regulation in Isolated Power Systems with Thermal Generation."Energies", v. 13 (n. 13); p. 3369. ISSN 1996-1073. https://doi.org/10.3390/en13133369. 7. Fernández-Guillamón, A.; Martínez-Lucas, G.; Molina-García, Á.; Sarasua, J.-I. Hybrid Wind–PV Frequency Control Strategy under Variable Weather Conditions in Isolated Power Systems. Sustainability 2020, 12, 7750. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187750. 8. Fernández-Guillamón, Ana & Gomez-Lazaro, Emilio & Molina-Garcia, Ángel. (2020). Extensive frequency response and inertia analysis under high renewable energy source integration scenarios: application to the European interconnected power system.Escuela Internacional de Doctorado de la Universidad Politécnica de CartagenaUniversidad Politécnica de CartagenaPrograma de Doctorado en Energías Renovables y Eficiencia Energétic

Energy Storage Technologies for Smoothing Power Fluctuations in Marine Current Turbines

With regard to marine renewable energies, significant electrical power can be extracted from marine tidal current. However, the power harnessed by a marine current turbine varies due to the periodicity of the tidal phenomenon and could be highly fluctuant caused by swell effect. To improve the power quality and make the marine current generation system more reliable, energy storage systems will play a crucial role. In this paper, the power fluctuation phenomenon is described and the state of art of energy storage technologies is presented. Characteristics of various energy storage technologies are analyzed and compared for marine application. The omparison shows that high-energy batteries like sodiumsulphur battery and flow battery are favorable for smoothing the long-period power fluctuation due to the tide phenomenon while supercapacitors and flywheels are suitable for eliminating short-period power disturbances due to swell or turbulence phenomena. It means that hybrid storage technologies are needed for achieving optimal performance in marine current energy systems

Potential Climatic Impacts and Reliability of Very Large-Scale Wind Farms

Abstract and PDF report are also available on the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change website (http://globalchange.mit.edu/).Meeting future world energy needs while addressing climate change requires large-scale deployment of low or zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emission technologies such as wind energy. The widespread availability of wind power has fueled legitimate interest in this renewable energy source as one of the needed technologies. For very large-scale utilization of this resource, there are however potential environmental impacts, and also problems arising from its inherent intermittency, in addition to the present need to lower unit costs. To explore some of these issues, we use a threedimensional climate model to simulate the potential climate effects associated with installation of wind-powered generators over vast areas of land or coastal ocean. Using windmills to meet 10% or more of global energy demand in 2100, could cause surface warming exceeding 1oC over land installations. In contrast, surface cooling exceeding 1oC is computed over ocean installations, but the validity of simulating the impacts of windmills by simply increasing the ocean surface drag needs further study. Significant warming or cooling remote from both the land and ocean installations, and alterations of the global distributions of rainfall and clouds also occur. These results are influenced by the competing effects of increases in roughness and decreases in wind speed on near-surface turbulent heat fluxes, the differing nature of land and ocean surface friction, and the dimensions of the installations parallel and perpendicular to the prevailing winds. These results are also dependent on the accuracy of the model used, and the realism of the methods applied to simulate windmills. Additional theory and new field observations will be required for their ultimate validation. Intermittency of wind power on daily, monthly and longer time scales as computed in these simulations and inferred from meteorological observations, poses a demand for one or more options to ensure reliability, including backup generation capacity, very long distance power transmission lines, and onsite energy storage, each with specific economic and/or technological challenges.This study received support from the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, which is funded by a consortium of government, industry and foundation sponsors