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PAR R2783 Working Group Abstract

Application of Quick response system for customer-side load in modern power grids 

With the increasing development of high-voltage DC/AC (HVDC/AC) and high penetration renewable energy sources in modern power grids, operational situations become more complicated, largely increasing the operation risk and the control difficulty. In load center areas, much more electric power may be from external regions via HVDC/AC, meanwhile, the large scale renewable power generation brings indeterminacy/uncertainty to these power systems. In this scenario, the regional power grid with high penetration renewable energy sources becomes a large receiving end power grid, in which both equivalent inertia of generators and the ability of frequency stability regulation are decreasing and the risk of frequency instability is increasing. Significant electrical frequency deviation of an interconnection grid can lead to load shedding, instability, machine damage, and even blackouts. In terms of customer-side load control, conventional approaches contain auto centralized load shedding, orderly power use, under frequency load shedding, and so on. However, the current way of load shedding is centralized and the load response is passive and slow. In this case, the quick response system of customer-side loads in a real-time precision way is one of the best solutions.
In addition, randomness and intermittency of wind generation and photovoltaic generation bring unbalance between power supply and customer demand. The guide can utilize quick response technology of customer-side loads to track renewable generation to improve ability of absorbing renewable energy in modern power grids. Therefore it is definitely the right time to prepare a guide by IEEE for leveraging multi-time scale load control to maintain power system stability including interruptible loads, active response loads, and energy storage.

In order to mitigate frequency stability issue and observe more renewable power generation, in 2016, the large scale quick response system of customer-side loads was put into commercial operation in Jiangsu Province, as the largest load center in East China, which covers 1000MW interruptible response loads in milliseconds and 3500MW controllable loads in seconds. In 2016 and 2017, the commissioning tests have validated the effectiveness of the quick load response system. Function architecture, control strategy, and system implementation for quick response systems of customer-side loads are explored in this guide. It has been proven that the quick response system of customer-side loads provides alternative choice for mitigating frequency stability issues and absorbing renewable power when the generation-side resources are limited.

After reviewing the related documents, we do not find similar international standards, technical specifications, technical reports, or guides in IEEE, IEC, and CIGRE official publications. It is the right time to establish a guide for the quick response system of customer-side loads in modern power grids.