This is the second report in the project. It builds upon the findings of the first report by validating the effectiveness of different approaches to using synchronous condensers to mitigate system strength using detailed PSCAD analysis in a specific real world situation.
Report extract
This second report also establishes a baseline for a third report which will follow, to document PSCAD analysis to assess the effectiveness of grid-forming inverters.
To ensure that the findings are accurate, the analysis is based on the detailed simulation of real generation and network, and has been conducted in the same manner that a “full impact assessment” for a new generator connection. This study considered three Inverter-Based Renewable (IBR) generators, totalling around 400MW, all connected to Powerlink’s 275kV network, separated by about 400km. Certain details of the generators and network have been abstracted in this report to avoid identifying of any of the generators or disclosing any confidential or commercial information. This abstraction does not in any way impact upon the validity of the report’s conclusions.
Each of the three generator connections considered in this report require some form of system strength remediation to operate stably themselves and to not induce instability in other generators. Our analysis focussed on comparing the technical effectiveness of using separate synchronous condensers for each connection, versus a single centralised synchronous condenser that is adequate to support all three generators.
