New system uses wind turbines to defend the US national grid from power
cuts

Date:
June 19, 2020
Source:
University of Birmingham
Summary:
A 'smart' system that controls the storage and release of energy
from wind turbines will reduce the risk of power cuts and support
the increase of wind energy use world-wide, say researchers.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A 'smart' system that controls the storage and release of energy from
wind turbines will reduce the risk of power cuts and support the increase
of wind energy use world-wide, say researchers at the University of
Birmingham.


==========================================================================
The system uses the variable speed of the rotors in wind turbine systems
to more closely regulate the supply of power to the grid. This means
that when electricity demand is high, stored kinetic energy in the
turbines can be used intelligently to keep the grid stable. University
of Birmingham Enterprise has applied for a patent to protect the system.

Regulating the supply of electricity to keep pace with demand is a
continual challenge. Sudden outage of power generation, such as when a generator gets damaged, can cause a 'frequency dip', which can lead to
power cuts. The UK's large power stations currently manage these dips
by pushing out more electricity.

However, as more wind turbines are integrated into the system, it becomes
more difficult to balance supply and demand and keep the system stable,
as frequency dips in national power grid occur more quickly and more
severely than before when wind generation became such a significant
element of electricity generation.

Lead researcher Professor Xiao-Ping Zhang, Director of Smart Grid in
the Birmingham Energy Institute, comments: "By 2030 wind is expected to
provide half the UK's power, so it's important that we can use the wind
farms provide a vital safety mechanism of controlling frequency dips of
UK's national power grid. Our proposed frequency control system for wind turbines could revolutionise the UK's power grid's frequency control and, importantly, uses our existing infrastructure of wind turbines and it will
not need additional devices and investments." The most recent severe
power cut, in August 2019, caused blackouts across the Midlands, South
East, South West, North West and North East of England, and Wales. The
incident was triggered by two almost simultaneous unexpected power losses
at Hornsea and Little Barford due to lightning strikes.

Thousands of homes were left without power, while people were stranded
on trains and traffic lights stopped working. Power was restored some
40 minutes later, but problems on the rail network carried on over the
weekend. In this situation, frequency control response services from
wind turbines, if available using our proposed approach, would have
protected the national grid system from the power cut.

"As the UK increases its reliance on wind power, it will become even more important to find effective ways to use the turbine systems to provide
this service and maintain effective regulation of the grid. Current
methods of using wind turbines to regulate electricity struggle to
provide consistent support because of variable wind speeds and other
system conditions," adds Professor Zhang.

The method proposed by the Birmingham team harnesses the potential of
wind turbines to operate at variable speeds to provide the flexibility
required to respond to fluctuations in supply and demand. Their results
are published in IEEE Open Access Journal of Power and Energy. The
team has already validated their approach in an industry-standard power
grid simulator and is seeking industrial partners to explore commercial opportunities for the technology.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Birmingham. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Xianxian Zhao, Ying Xue, Xiao-Ping Zhang. Fast Frequency Support
From
Wind Turbine Systems by Arresting Frequency Nadir Close to Settling
Frequency. IEEE Open Access Journal of Power and Energy, 2020; 7:
191 DOI: 10.1109/OAJPE.2020.2996949 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200619115721.htm

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