On the Robustness of Domestic Devices to Decreased Frequency Quality

Abstract

Currently, the Continental European Synchronous Area is operated in the frequency range of 47.5 to 51. 5Hz. Frequency control is becoming more challenging With decreasing levels of rotational inertia, increasing intermittent generation and increasing cross-border power flows. These trends lead to potentially faster frequency changes in case of severe disturbances like system splits. This contribution investigates whether decreasing frequency quality by expanding limits for allowable frequency deviations would be a feasible approach to cope with this problem. We present and analyze first experimental results on exposing domestic devices to deviations of up to ±10Hz from nominal frequency. The experiments reveal that robustness to large frequency deviations significantly varies depending on the components (e.g. type of motor) involved, but all tested devices can Withstand frequencies in the range of 45 to 55Hz.