Assessment of frequency stability behaviour regarding inertia reduction due to high renewable integration in the Iberian system

TL;DR

This paper investigates how increasing renewable energy sources reduce system inertia and threaten frequency stability in the Iberian Peninsula, using dynamic modeling and simulations from 2020 to 2040.

Contribution

It develops an equivalent dynamic model of the Iberian system with parameter estimation based on real frequency data to analyze inertia reduction impacts.

Findings

Inertia reduction can significantly affect frequency stability.

Simulation results highlight critical scenarios for system stability.

Modeling approach aids in planning for future renewable integration.

Abstract

The progressive integration of electronic converter based Renewable Energy Sources will lead to a reduction of the system synchronous inertia that can endanger the system frequency stability behavior, especially in the case of isolated or poorly interconnected systems, such as the case of Iberian Peninsula system. This work focuses on the study of the impact that the synchronous inertia reduction can have on the Iberian system frequency stability for different critical operation scenarios and disturbances. For this purpose, an equivalent dynamic model of the Iberian system interconnected with the central European network was first developed using the Matlab Simulink graphical programming environment. The parameters of this model are identified using a parameter estimation approach that explores the recorded behavior of the frequency following an outage of a nuclear unit in Spain. This model was used afterwards to perform simulations for different generation outages and multiple operation scenarios between 2020 and 2040.