Power system inertia in an inverter-dominated network

Abstract

Erosion of power system inertial energy due to high penetration levels of renewable energy (RE) sources in a power system is a current teething issue with most system operators everywhere. The main issue is displacement of synchronous generators with inverter-based based generators, as the latter do not provide any inertial energy to the power system. The power system thereby becomes vulnerable to large system events (like sudden loss of a big generator or load) and in an inverter-based system this could result in catastrophes such as total collapse of the whole power system due to rapid rate of change of frequency. This paper focuses on power system inertia as RE penetration levels increase and also explores possible mitigation measures such as demand response techniques.