Measurement-Based Monitoring and Control in Power Systems with High Renewable Penetrations

Power systems are experiencing rapid changes in their generation mixes because of the increasing integration of inverter-based resources (IBRs) and the retirement of traditional generations. This opens opportunities for a cleaner energy outlook but also poses challenges to the safe operation of the power networks. Enhanced monitoring and control based on the increasingly available measurements are essential in assisting stable operation and effective planning for these evolving systems.

First, awareness of the evolving dynamic characteristics is quintessential for secure operation and corrective planning. A quantified monitoring study that keeps track of the inertial response and primary frequency response is conducted on the Eastern Interconnection (EI) for the past decade with field data. Whereas the inertia declined by at least 10%, the primary frequency response experienced an unexpected increase. The findings unveiled in the trending analysis also led to an improved event MW size estimation method, as well as discussions about regional dynamics.

Experiencing a faster and deeper renewable integration, the Continental Europe Synchronous Area (CESA) system has been threatened by more frequent occurrences of inter-area oscillations during light-load high-renewable periods. A measurement-based oscillation damping control scheme is proposed for CESA with reduced reliance on system models. The design, implementation, and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing of the controller are discussed in detail.

Despite the challenges, the increasing presence of IBRs also brings opportunities for fast and efficient controls. Together with synchronized measurement, IBRs have the potential to flexibly complement traditional frequency and voltage control schemes for improved frequency and voltage recovery. The design, implementation, and HIL testing of the measurement-based frequency and voltage control for the New York State Grid are presented.

In addition to the transmission level development, IBRs deployed in distribution networks can also be valuable assets in emergency islanding situations if controlled properly. A power management module is proposed to take advantage of measurements and automatically control the electric boundaries of islanded microgrids for maximized power utilization and improved frequency regulation. The module is designed to be adaptive to arbitrary non-meshed topologies with multiple source locations for increased flexibility, expedited deployment, and reduced cost.