Inertia Sensitivity Analysis of Power Grids with High Penetration of Renewable Energy Sources

Abstract

Power grid all over the world is going through a major change due to the increased adaptation of renewable energy sources (RESs). This is causing depletion of conventional rotating synchronous generators from the power grid to make way for the inverter based RESs. As a result, the grid inertia is gradually decreasing, which poses significant challenges for the grid operator to maintain the frequency stability. In this paper, an analysis of declining inertia influence on the grid frequency behaviour with the increased penetration of RESs has been presented. This influence has been quantified by assessing the sensitivity of frequency behaviour to the grid inertia. Furthermore, an assessment of grid frequency stability and its sensitivity to grid inertia variation has been presented in this paper. Case studies on the modified IEEE 39 bus test system have been carried out to demonstrate the usefulness of the analysis presented in this paper to assess grid frequency behaviour and stability with the increased uptake of RESs.