Impact of High PV Penetration on the Inter-area Oscillations in the U.S. Eastern Interconnection

TL;DR

This paper investigates how increasing photovoltaic (PV) penetration affects inter-area oscillations in the U.S. Eastern Interconnection, revealing decreased damping and the emergence of new oscillation modes under certain control strategies.

Contribution

It develops detailed dynamic models to analyze the effects of high PV penetration on inter-area oscillations and explores the influence of control strategies and parameters.

Findings

Damping of dominant oscillation mode decreases with higher PV levels

Mode shape varies with PV control strategies

New oscillation modes can emerge with inappropriate PV control parameters

Abstract

This study explores the impact of high PV penetration on the inter-area oscillation modes of large-scale power grids. A series of dynamic models with various PV penetration levels are developed based on a detailed model representing the U.S. Eastern Interconnection (EI). Transient simulations are performed to investigate the change of inter-area oscillation modes with PV penetration. The impact of PV control strategies and parameter settings on inter-area oscillations is studied. This study finds that as PV increases, the damping of the dominant oscillation mode decreases monotonically. It is also observed that the mode shape varies with the PV control strategy and new oscillation modes may emerge under inappropriate parameter settings in PV plant controls.