RENEWABLES AND

GRID STABILITY
Team Members:
Anish       19104001
Presented By: Sakshi      19104002
Prakhar    19104007
Ayush      19104008
Prakhar 19104007 Harshit     19104011
Vibhu    19104059 Snehit      19104013
Lakshya   19104015
Vivek     19104060 Hoshang 19104017
Vibhu       19104059
Vivek        19104060
 Renewable Power Generation in India
• The demand for use of renewable energy resources for power generation has increased drastically in
recent years because of  environmental degradation caused by the conventional methods.

• The combined generation from solar, wind, small hydro, biomass and other sources stood at 10.647
billion units in December 2019, as against 9.083 billion units of green energy generation recorded for
the same month in 2018.

•  India has an ambitious target of achieving 175 GW of RE power by 2022, with 100 GW from solar,
60 GW from wind.

• India’s renewable capacity installations reached 86 gigawatt (GW) as of 31 December, 2019,

according to research from JMK Research and Analytics.

• In 2019, India installed 7.3 GW of solar power across the country, establishing its position as the
third-largest solar market in the world.
Present Penetration of renewables in the
grid systems
1. At present renewables are  grid connected at the distribution level only, either at LV level or MV
level. 
2. Frequency and voltage are two important parameters that ensure stable operation of the power
grid. Currently, majority of RE systems do not participate in system frequency and voltage
regulation functions. Thus, renewables are currently incapable of  regulating power quality factors.
3. The standard practice generally followed with renewable resources is to disconnect them during
contingencies and reconnect when normalcy is restored. The active power (MW) and reactive
power (MVAR) support required by the system during that period is usually provided by
conventional units.
Challenges in integrating renewables into grid
systems 

Variability & Unpredictability

• One of the major challenge in incorporating renewables
completely into the grid system is its unpredictable nature. 
Generations from wind and solar plants are dependent upon
weather conditions, thus making it inflexible in meeting the
changing load demands. 
• Conventional plants ,on the other hand, are very flexible and
independent of weather conditions. Flexibility is brought in
the system by varying generation output to match changes in
load.
Introduction of Harmonics into the power system

• Harmonics are created by electronic equipment with nonlinear loads drawing in

current in abrupt short pulses. The short pulses cause distorted current
waveforms, which in turn cause harmonic currents to flow back into other parts
of the power system.

• As Renewable resources also use inverters, non-linear loads, power

electronic devices etc, this introduces harmonics in the distribution network

• Thus, installation of RE causes overheating of transformers, tripping of circuit

breakers, and reduces the life of connected equipment.
Technical issues
The technical issues that need to be addressed while integrating RE resources on the
distribution system are:
• Voltage variations 
• Point of common coupling (PCC) and Voltage level 
• Power quality 
• Reactive power compensation capability
• Frequency regulation capability

Voltage Variations​
• The voltage variations related issues include over-voltage, under-voltage, sags, swells, spikes,
surges, flicker, unbalance and voltage interruptions.
• Voltage sag is a reduction in the voltage magnitude (10-90%) followed by a voltage recovery after a
short period of time. These are caused by short-circuit faults in the system or by starting of large
motors.
• Over voltages of very short duration and high magnitude, is called voltage spikes.
• Flicker is a periodic or aperiodic fluctuation in system voltage that can lead to noticeable changes in
light output. 
• In case of PV systems; flicker is resulted due to the power variations caused by passing clouds. In
case of WTGs, flicker is caused by fluctuations in the output power due to wind speed variations,
wind shear, and the tower shadow effects.
 PCC and voltage level

• The PCC is a point in the grid where multiple generators and loads are connected. The importance of PCC is that
it is the point on the network at which the generator will cause most disturbances. 
• The strength of the grid characterized by its short circuit ratio (SCR) is defined as: 
•                                       SCR= Ssc / Pg.
• The short circuit capacity (Ssc) is the maximum power that can flow in a network in case of a short circuit. It is
represented as: 
•                                       Ssc = If Vs = Vs *Vs / Zs 
• Therefore,                   SCR =   Vs *Vs / Zs *Pg 
• It is obvious from that a network will be strong if the operating voltage is higher and the effective impedance is
smaller.
• A network may be considered strong with respect to the RE integration, if SCR is above 10 and weak if SCR is
below 10.
• A new element like generator is connected to a strong point in the grid.
• A weak system will be considerably affected due to the disturbances caused by the addition of new elements
such as loads or generators.
• Thus, for grid integration of large amount of wind or PV, the PCC voltage level has to be as high as possible to
limit voltage variations. The suitable voltage level at which a renewable based generator is to be connected with
the power grid dependents on its capacity as well. 
 Power Quality
• The quality of electric power may be described as a set of values of parameters, such as continuity of service,
variation in voltage amplitude and frequency, transient voltages and currents. 
• The increased share of WTGs and PV systems in the power grid results in many power quality issues. 
• In case of PV systems, PQ problems arise due to variations in solar radiation, cloud shadow, power electronic
modules such as inverter and filters due to their non-linear mode of operation.
• In case of wind turbines, PQ problems arise due to variations in wind speed, tower shadow, misalignment
between wind direction and turbine facing direction and power electronics devices. 
• Accordingly, the power quality related phenomena can be divided into two main groups:

PQ issues due to fluctuating resources PQ issues due to the power electronics

are interface
Over voltages during feed-in Harmonic injection
Long and short time voltage fluctuations Resonance phenomena
Unbalance  Inrush currents
Frequency deviations  Decreased damping of the grid due
to nonlinearities
 Reactive Power Compensation Capability
Unbalance in reactive power (VAR) is one of the major causes of voltage instability in an
electric network, leading to voltage drops in the buses and lines. Induction generators used in
wind turbines needs reactive power support. At no load, these WTGs consume reactive power
about 35-40% of the rated active power, and at full load, VAR requirement increases to around
60%. Capacitor banks are normally used for compensating the VAR requirements. That means,
these types of WTGs do not participate in system voltage control. For variable speed WTGs and
solar PV systems using self-commutated power electronic devices, the VAR can be controlled to
minimize losses and to increase voltage stability.

Frequency Regulation Capability

• Conventional  synchronous generators possess two key qualities which are very essential in controlling the grid
frequency. These are: a) system inertia and b) speed droop.
• In order to prevent the reproduction of wind speed variation as frequency variation in the grid, variable speed
WTGs use ac-dc-ac power electronic converters for the grid connection.
• Another requirement for a generating unit to take part in frequency regulation is the availability of sufficient
reserve generation margin to meet the sudden increase in load demand or tripping of some generators.
Traditionally, variable speed WTGs and solar PV systems always operate at the maximum power point tracking
(MPPT) curve so as to capture optimum energy from the resource. This leaves no power reserve for frequency
regulation needs.
Some Developing
Solutions
Better Weather Forecast & Data Analysis

• Renewable energy actually becomes more predictable as the

number of renewable generators connected to the grid increases
thanks to the effect of geographic diversity and the Law of Large
Numbers

• The Law of Large Numbers is a probability theorem,

which states that the aggregate result of a large number of
uncertain processes becomes more predictable as the total number
of processes increases

• This only brings some smoothness in generation curves

• Better weather forecasting technologies and Data analysis  can

help in predicting generation through renewables.
Energy Storage Solutions
• As generation of electricity through renewables is
unpredictable and not much controllable, storing energy seem
to be the only option

• Extensive  research is going on changing the chemical

composition of lithium based batteries to make them scalable
for grids

• Other ways are to store the energy without the use of batteries.
Like : Hydrogen Energy Storage, etc.

• Hydrogen Energy Storage invovles electrolysis of water for

producing hydrogen which can be stored. This hydrogen can be
used to make electricity through fuel cells. Putting the energy
back into the system
 Synthetic Inertia
• Inertia acts as a shock absorber for grid stability

•  If there’s more demand for electricity than there

is supply, then frequency will fall. To stabilize
the system the steam flow of the turbine is
increased. 
     This takes some time and here is 
     where  inertia of the turbines has a
     role to play

• Inertia decreases the rate of change of frequency

 Synthetic Inertia
• Renewables like solar and wind generation do not have
inherent inertia

• We refer to synthetic inertia as the contribution of

additional electrical power from a source which does
not inherently release energy as its terminal frequency
varies, but which mimics the release of kinetic energy
from a rotating mass

• This is done by instantaneously increasing output to

counter frequency drops via swift control of power
electronics

• Also decrease in frequency response time decreases the

need of synthetic inertia
Thank you