AIT/IEEE PES Austria Chapter/IEEE IAS-PLES-IES Austria Joint Chapter Lecture Series

Methods for the Stability Assessment of Power Systems with a High Penetration of Power Converters

Eneko Unamuno (Researcher/Lecturer)
Mondragon University, Spain

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Abstract

Power systems are facing a paradigm shift that will require adapting their structure and mode of operation. This change is being driven by the massive integration of renewable energies, which are distributed across the grid and whose nature is highly variable, and by an increasing use of power converters associated with these renewable sources and other applications such as storage systems, FACTS, direct current transmission systems or microgrids.

The transition to a system dominated by power converters poses multiple challenges that still need to be addressed. These include new stability issues arising from adverse interactions between power converters, or between power converters and the rest of the grid elements, which can excite both sub-synchronous and super-synchronous under-damped oscillation modes. The reasons for these interactions are manifold and there is a necessity to develop new methodologies and tools to identify their origin and to effectively design and control grid-connected devices to mitigate them.

This presentation will provide an overview of the most recent methodologies to perform such analyses and their main differences with respect to classical stability assessment methods. In addition, a tool developed in collaboration between Mondragon Unibertsitatea and Tecnalia will be introduced. The tool, named CSTEP, makes it possible to model and study converter-dominated power systems analytically; it includes, among others, functions to automatically obtain time-domain models and frequency-domain impedance-based representations, to carry out parametric evaluations in both domains, to obtain harmonic state-space descriptions, and to make multi-objective optimizations over the analytical models.

About the Speakers

Eneko Unamuno holds a Bachelor Degree in Industrial Electronics Engineering (2012) and a Master in Energy and Power Electronics (2014) from the Faculty of Engineering of Mondragon Unibertsitatea (MU-EPS). In 2017 he finished his PhD thesis at MU-EPS, with Cum Laude qualification and International PhD mention. He is currently a researcher and lecturer and coordinates, jointly with Prof. Jon Andoni Barrena, the research activities related to Power Systems within the MU-EPS Electrical Energy group. His research areas focus on the development of analysis and control techniques for ac, dc and hybrid systems dominated by power electronic converters, and for the integration of distributed generation and energy storage systems into the grid.

Organizers 

This event is jointly organized by the IEEE PES Chapter Austria, IEEE IAS/PELS/IES Joint Chapter Austria, and AIT Austrian Institute of Technology - Center for Energy.