Grid-Forming Control with DFIM based Adjustable Speed Pumped-Storage Hydropower

Abstract

Adjustable speed pumped-storage hydropower (AS-PSH) can add significant benefits to the power system network. However, AS-PSH today is designed as a grid-following unit. Therefore, unlike the conventional PSH, this grid-following control (GFLC) based AS-PSH loses the capability to black-start the power system unless special measures are taken. To overcome this drawback, a flux-tracking-based grid-forming control (GFMC) for AS-PSH is designed. The PI controllers are designed using an adaptive framework to cope with the time-varying AS-PSH, power network systems. This paper presents the preliminary investigations using simulations in MATLAB/Simulink to indicate that the GFMC for the AS-PSH system can successfully black-start the power system, while also working at optimal speeds to maximize efficiency of the AS-PSH system.