Renewable Energy Interconnection and Compliance—An Australian Perspective

Abstract

Large amount of wind generation is likely to be installed in Australia in coming years. In the current climate change and environment, wind energy will not only be able to contribute to securing Australian energy independence and climate goals in the future but also it could also turn a serious energy supply problem into an opportunity in the form of commercial benefits, technology research, export and employment. Due to the ever increasing integration of this renewable energy, the transfer capability has been a major concern. The main purpose of this study is to assess the transfer stability analysis of impact of wind turbine technology connected to weak power system and short transmission distance with various demand conditions when wind turbine with ZPM connected at transmission network level and its compliance to National Electricity Rule (NER). PSS/E software has been used for the study which accurately simulate the power system and wind turbine. NER compliance has been used as an example to test Grid compliance. The fault ride-through requirement for wind energy converters has also been a common practice as conventional power plants. Therefore various system faults have been simulated to see the impact of renewable on the system. Studies show that for all faults under most scenarios, the system remains stable and well damped, i.e. oscillations are damped to 50% within 5 seconds. Even for the most severe fault with 230kV line cleared by circuit breaker protection by tripping all the lines connected to 230kV bus, the system remains stable and well damped.