TY - GEN

T1 - A high fault current synchronous condenser for support of renewable grids

AU - Schofield, Nigel

AU - Alhabill, Fuad

AU - Guo, Renqi

AU - Zhao, Nan

PY - 2023/12/19

Y1 - 2023/12/19

N2 - With an increasing share of renewable energy sources being connected to electrical power networks, transient energy from the rotating inertia of traditional power plant is reducing. Renewable energy resources are highly dynamic and somewhat intermittent compared to more traditional generation sources. Hence, they pose a challenge to the electrical network operator in terms of effectively managing their resources to maximize energy transfer while maintaining stable operation. Existing renewable generation normally has low transient energy, which reduces system inertia. This increases the specification requirements of other interconnected components. Specifically, the physical characteristics of power electronics limits the output current of renewable schemes during fault. The paper will initially discuss the operational concept of a synchronous condenser with reference to the support of renewable and localized embedded generation. An example synchronous condenser design is presented to illustrate the provision of some limited energy input during energy transients, some reactive VAR capability, but importantly, supply of high transient fault currents. The paper discusses the synchronous condenser electromagnetic design in terms of machine impedance to realize high fault levels. A low power synchronous machine is studied to illustrate design considerations.

AB - With an increasing share of renewable energy sources being connected to electrical power networks, transient energy from the rotating inertia of traditional power plant is reducing. Renewable energy resources are highly dynamic and somewhat intermittent compared to more traditional generation sources. Hence, they pose a challenge to the electrical network operator in terms of effectively managing their resources to maximize energy transfer while maintaining stable operation. Existing renewable generation normally has low transient energy, which reduces system inertia. This increases the specification requirements of other interconnected components. Specifically, the physical characteristics of power electronics limits the output current of renewable schemes during fault. The paper will initially discuss the operational concept of a synchronous condenser with reference to the support of renewable and localized embedded generation. An example synchronous condenser design is presented to illustrate the provision of some limited energy input during energy transients, some reactive VAR capability, but importantly, supply of high transient fault currents. The paper discusses the synchronous condenser electromagnetic design in terms of machine impedance to realize high fault levels. A low power synchronous machine is studied to illustrate design considerations.

KW - FAULT CURRENT

KW - MACHINE DESIGN

KW - SYNCHRONOUS CONDENSER

U2 - 10.1049/icp.2023.2761

DO - 10.1049/icp.2023.2761

M3 - Conference contribution/Paper

VL - 2023

T3 - IET Conference Proceedings

SP - 372

EP - 377

BT - 22nd Wind and Solar Integration Workshop (WIW 2023)

ER -