Inclusion of Wind Turbines into Frequency Support Services : Exploring frequency stability issues and comparing regulation power market products

There is a trend in Sweden towards increasing the electricity production from renewable energy sources in the electric grid. The increased share of renewables could be seen as essential for Sweden to be able to meet the obligated climate goals. Integration of renewables will enable Sweden to be a progressive part in reducing greenhouse gases and decreasing the global warming. However, one issue with renewable energy sources is the inverter governed production. This, together with the decommission of larger synchronous generators, results in decreasing the inertia and increasing the instability inthe grid. This thesis is dedicated to elaborating on frequency stability issues and investigating how Variable Speed Wind Turbines (VSWT) could contribute towards stabilized operation when included in frequency support services. The study is generated through an extensive research process where focus areas are identified. Questions are purposed and then discussed through interviews with experienced people in the field. Estimated power production series from a wind turbine park (WTP) are applied in a constructed model to study the possibilities appearing when including VSWTs in frequency support services. The income generated from including VSWTs in different regulation power market services is with the model compared against solely procuring the production capacity on the day ahead market. The studied frequency support services are then compared altogether to generate favorable solutions. The study examines both economic as well as technical features of the inclusion of VSWTs in frequency support services. Results found in the study were that inclusion of wind turbines for power regulation purposes could be seen as increasingly manageable and needed in the electric grid. The maturity of technical solutions alongwith a transition in the regulation power market could be observed as leading factors. The diversification of regulation abilities and the increasing economic incentives in the regulation power market was also found to be important reasons for including wind turbines in the regulation power market. In the study, it was also found thataggregating the power production from several VSWT could increase the ability to deliver the studied services. It was concluded that inclusion of VSWT in the frequency containment reserve during disturbed operation for down-regulation purposes as well as the fast frequency reserve was the most promising frequency support products for the inclusion of wind turbines. When including battery energy storages and to a larger part managing the durability demands for the services then the frequency contain reserve for normal operation and the frequency containment reserve for disturbed operation for upregulation purposes could be observed as preferable alternatives. Regulation abilities were concluded as achievable with the use of pitch and torque regulation techniques available in the variable speed wind turbine.