Abstract
As the largest global renewable source, hydropower is a useful supplement to mountainous distribution networks with abundant water resources, and shoulders a large portion of the regulation duty in many power systems. In particular, in the form of decentralized energy sources located to their customers, small hydropower (SHP) improve grid stability by diversifying the electricity system and reducing power loss. The mountainous distribution networks supplied by small hydropower are closed-loop design but open-loop operation, which easily causes the tripping of tie line even further the off-grid operation of small hydropower system. Once the tie line trips, the current countermeasures—such as hydropower shutdown and load shedding—do not fully guarantee the reliability of power supply and the utilization efficiency of hydropower. This paper studies the amplitude-frequency characteristics of SHP off-grid, according to the typical integration of hydropower in South China, a SHP on-grid/off-grid model is established based on the Power Systems Computer Aided Design (PSCAD) platform. It is found that due to the inertia of SHP, the amplitude-frequency characteristics of SHP island system are relatively slow, and the process of non-synchronization with the main grid is gradually expanded. The characteristic of SHP has a certain degree of synchronization with the main grid in the initial island operates stage, which helps to find a novel grid connection method. This paper further proposes the strategy of using fast busbar automatic transfer switch (BATS), which quickly connect the trip-off SHP to the distribution network under the condition of permitting distributed energy grid-connected. The PSCAD simulation results show that proposed strategy has a limited impact on the power grid and prove the effectiveness of the method.
Highlights
As an important part of clean energy, small hydropower (SHP) is a priority funded project of the Clean DevelopmentMechanism (CDM)
Take a practical SHP distribution network in southern mountainous China for example to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method
The SHP is set off from the grid to enter the island reconnected by the busbar automatic transfer switch (BATS)
Summary
As an important part of clean energy, SHP is a priority funded project of the Clean Development. Due to its easy access and low development cost, it has been widely promoted and applied in China and around the world in recent years [1,2]. There are many benefits to connect SHP to the distribution grid. Hydropower is a renewable, clean energy source. Making full use of hydropower can reduce carbon emissions and optimize energy structure. Small hydropower access is conducive to improving the power quality of mountain distribution networks. Due to the Processes 2019, 7, 328; doi:10.3390/pr7060328 www.mdpi.com/journal/processes
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