Performance Assessment for Primary Frequency Regulation of Variable-Speed Pumped Storage Plant in Isolated Power Systems

Primary frequency regulation (PFR) is a crucial operating condition for PSPs to realise frequency modulation, and the effectiveness of PFR is significant to the stability of power system frequency. Several challenges and risks have been presented in the PFR process for conventional PSPs, especially for those which run in the isolated grid, such as water inertia, negative damping of speed governor and ultra-low frequency oscillation (ULFO). Variable-speed pumped storage plants (VSPSPs) have the potential to overcome the negative impacts on regulation performance caused by hydraulic factors, due to the advantages of rapid power regulation and independent active power control from turbine output. In this paper, the primary task is to conduct a comprehensive assessment for PFR performance of VSPSPs in isolated power systems. Initially, the hydraulic-mechanical-electrical numerical models are established. Secondly, the rotational speed stability of the pump-turbine is quantified and the advantages of VSUs in suppressing ULFO are assessed. Relevant results reveal that the performance of VSUs is better than that of FSUs in the regulation process. Finally, assessments of frequency regulation performance under various scenarios are conducted with four indicators (standard deviation of power differences, power regulation time delay, settling time and overshoot).

Automated summary

This paper focuses on the primary frequency regulation (PFR) performance of variable-speed pumped storage plants (VSPSPs) in isolated power systems. The hydraulic-mechanical-electrical numerical models are established to quantify the rotational speed stability of the pump-turbine and assess the effectiveness of variable-speed units (VSUs) in suppressing ultra-low frequency oscillation (ULFO). The results show that VSUs outperform fixed-speed units (FSUs) in the regulation process.