Impact of increased penetration levels of distributed inverter-based generation on transient stability

Abstract

The introduction of renewable energy (RE) generation onto the Grid has major benefits such as low carbon footprint on the environment and cheaper or free primary energy sources. However the introduction of RE generation is certainly not without challenges. One major challenge with introduction of nonsynchronous RES on the Grid is erosion of natural inertial energy that is provided by synchronous machines on the Grid. This natural inertial response from synchronous generating sources helps in damping power system swings during system events such as generator trips or sudden loss of a large load. The primary benefit of system inertia in this manner is seen in primary frequency response of the power system, however inertial energy of the machine also directly affects the transient stability of the machine in question. It will be of interest to study how distributed non-synchronous generating sources impact on global transient stability in the power system. This paper will address the impact of increased penetration levels of distributed non-synchronous (static) RE generation on global transient stability of the power system.