Paving the Way: A Future Without Inertia Is Closer Than You Think

Abstract

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Grand challenges in the science of wind energy

“…However, to remain economically attractive for investors and consumers, the cost of energy from wind must continue to decrease (8,9). Moreover, as deployment of variable-output wind and solar generation infrastructure increases, new challenges surface related to the adequacy of generation capacity on a longterm basis and short-term balancing of the systems-both of which are critical to maintaining future grid system stability and reliability (10)(11)(12).…”

“…A future in which wind energy contributes one-third to more than one-half of consumed electricity, and in which local levels of windderived power may exceed 100% of local demand, will require a paradigm shift in how we think about, develop, and manage the electric grid system (10)(11)(12)(13)(14). The associated transformation of the power system in high-renewables scenarios will require simultaneous management of large quantities of weather-driven, variable-output generation as well as evolving and dynamic consumption patterns.…”

“…A second key aspect of this future system is the transition from an electric grid system centered on traditional synchronous generation power plants to one that is converter dominated (15). This latter paradigm reduces the physical inertia in the system currently provided by traditional power plants while increasing reliance on information and digital signals to maintain the robustness and power quality of the modern grid (12).…”

A Global Real-Time Superlab: Enabling High Penetration of Power Electronics in the Electric Grid

“…This transformation is creating a completely new power-electronic driven low-inertia grid. As described in [1], this future is also closer than what we can think. Even today operations of portion of grids with only power electronics-driven sources are possible.…”

Systems Level Validation of a Distributed Frequency Control Algorithm

“…2. The ESS inverters operate in parallel, and are controlled as grid-forming converters, controlling grid frequency and voltage [23]. The performance of the distributed secondary frequency control algorithm will be assessed under two scenarios: a step up and a step down of load.…”