Study of the Inertia Support Potential From HVDC Cables in Power Systems With High Renewable Energy Source Penetration

Abstract

Stimulated from the de-carbonization targets which was set up by governments worldwide, more and more conventional generation has been decommissioned. Lack of power system inertia support has gradually emerged as a major challenge for system operators around the world. It is especially the case for weak power systems with higher renewable energy source penetration. Existing research in providing inertial support relies on the installation of super capacitors onto the existing high voltage direct current (HVDC) systems. This technique imposes additional cost and reliability concerns. This article proposed a novel strategy which unlocked the potential from HVDC cables to provide inertia support. A comprehensive feasibility study has been performed on a prototype system in which the dynamic frequency response is analyzed. The results showed that for a feasible control strategy, the released energy from HVDC cables is sufficient to replace the vast majority of synchronous machines within a typical power system. This demonstrated the feasibility of utilizing existing HVDC cables for inertia support which significantly reduces the economic costs and improves the system reliabilities.