A novel control architecture for hybrid power plants to provide coordinated frequency reserves

Abstract

The inertia reduction suffered by worldwide power grids, along with the upcoming necessity of providing frequency regulation with renewable sources, motivates the present work. This paper focuses on developing a control architecture aimed to perform frequency regulation with renewable hybrid power plants comprised of a wind farm, solar photovoltaic, and a battery storage system. The proposed control architecture considers the latest regulations and recommendations published by ENTSO-E when implementing the first two stages of frequency control, namely the fast frequency response and the frequency containment reserve. Additionally, special attention is paid to the coordination among sub-plants inside the hybrid plant and also between different plants in the grid. The system’s performance is tested after the sudden disconnection of a large generation unit (N-1 contingency rules). Thus, the outcome of this study is a control strategy that enables a hybrid power plant to provide frequency support in a system with reduced inertia, a large share of renewable energy, and power electronics-interfaced generation. Finally, it is worth mentioning that the model has been developed in discrete time, using relevant sampling times according to industrial practice.