Synchronous Condensers Are Key To Enabling Renewable Growth - but what are they?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ส.ค. 2024
- We spoke to Kristina Carlquist, General Manager within ABB's Synchronous Condensers unit, to find out.
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Grids need a stable frequency because a change in grid frequency indicates an in-balance between generation and demand. Because of this the protection systems in the grid are set up around the rate of change of frequency to disconnect sections of the grid in order to avoid damage to grid wires and transformers. Once this protection mechanism starts it can cascade to a grid wide black out. Each time a protection mechanism triggers, it will change the in-balance as loads and generation are disconnected.
So in order to avoid this scenario the inertia of the massive rotating machinery in the grid acts to supply kinetic energy to maintain the frequency while the operator takes action to re-balance the load. This operator's action takes place on a time-scale of seconds and minutes while the inertia service will act on the scale of milliseconds. The operator looks to maintain a certain amount of inertia when they dispatch the various different types of generation available at any time. Grid Inertia is measured in units of MW.Seconds. Some will notice this is the same as the unit of energy. In other words, they target the amount of kinetic energy available to arrest a change in frequency.
When large amounts of renewable energy are available for dispatch, the operator may have to keep more expensive thermal generation units on line in order to maintain the target grid Inertia. So renewable energy is curtailed in this situation. This is where the synchronous condensers can help by providing inertia services to the grid.These machines are spun up and remain energised neither consuming or generating a significant amount of energy but contribute to the grid inertia. This allows the operator to dispatch a higher percentage of renewable inverter based generation than they might be able to otherwise.
The South Australian grid regularly has more than 100% renewable energy available to meet demand. A few years ago they would need to dispatch around 20% of the generation from gas plants in order to achieve their targeted grid inertia. They recently commissioned 4 synchronous condensers. So now during periods of high renewable generation they need to dispatch less than 5% of the generation as gas generation. As they deploy more grid scale batteries with Grid Forming Inverter technology they will at some point in the near future not need to dispatch any gas generation in this situation.
I hope this helps to explain why synchronous condensers are useful for increasing the amount of renewable energy dispatched by the operator.
Thank you! You could have replaced the ABB person in the video and completed the video in about 2 minutes with presumably less giggling.
Also, in the US, we'd say there's an "imbalance" between generation and demand. Might just be semantics between our countries.
This solves my query. Thank you!
Thank you! Easier and more understandable explanation than those in this video.
Does this mean it is some sort of giant resistor regulating energy in and out of the grid and can it charge the batteries attached to the grid...
*imbalance
A seemingly technically correct explanation that doesn't explain anything.
Basically big old steam turbines consisting of large rotating masses inherently stabilized the grid because changes in the kinetic energy of the rotating mass almost instantly compensated for changing loads and kept the power factor (phase angle between current and voltage) from distorting to the point that energy transmission efficiency drops and possibly even disconnects to protect equipment. Solar doesn’t do this at all since it’s rectified DC, while wind and gas turbines have less mass so perform only partially as well.
It's a ... airdyne bike. Pedal, pedal, pedal, pedal, and stop. The wheel continues to spin until it loses inertia. I am blown away they are selling this as "Savior of renewable energy" because it's a temporary thing. It's momentary. Literally momentary.
Well it seems like it can spin its own wheel without any external input
@@liamconverse8950 how so?
You missed the point. It can support temporary demands of high load (effectively).
Your solar panels fundamentally cannot do that. You get what you get and not a watt more, no matter how much you need it.
Very great explanation! Thanks
Synchronous condensers can be a viable alternative to batteries to help stabilise a renewable electrical grid. The on/off and intermittent power that renewables put into the grid leads to voltage and frequency issues. So by adjusting the voltage and frequency using a Synchronous condenser we can keep the output voltage and frequency within parameters.
With the exit of more power plants that use steam turbines connected to generators the Synchronous condenser can basically fill in the gap left by steam turbines and generators that have been removed from the grid.
Designing a worldwide electrical grid is a humongous task. With the entry of renewable power sources into the the energy sector bringing with it an almost exponential need for more complicated electronic control of all aspects of renewable power generation.
From the big cumbersome days of coal fired power plants with almost no finesse in the way the grid operated to the multitude of AC/DC inverters that have to be controlled with smart switching, trying to replicate the old style of grid needs electronic finesse like never before and an innate understanding of how it all works.
Modern electronics and programs have made the renewable grid a possibility with the dinosaur like grid control from fifty years ago unable to deal with a renewable energy present and future.
😎🇦🇺
So it's a motor that doesn't drive anything?
Yes, spot on description! (It's funny, because it's true😅🤣😇)
The word inertia keeps coming up.i used to work for a generator set builder.For an intermittent heavy load application like motor starting use a larger heavier alternator to pick up the load while the engine is powering up.
Condenser can be used on tail end of the grid?
between the grid and your installation
Tail end is also absolutely possible, some factories use it to condition their local power grids (stabilize voltage, correct power factor, provide LVRT)
I don't think she really knows. But it's really a motor/generator with a big mass on the axle so that it can give back energy to the grid when needed. Imagine that a big load is suddenly switched on on the grid. There is many times a large startup current involved and if the energy comes from some DC source like photovoltaic arrays or fuel cells, they just are just not able to deliver the energy needed during that brief moment. Instead the motor/generator is able to deliver this type of power for X number of cycles, because the kinetic rotational energy of the motor is providing the energy. This prevents overloads and large oscillations on the net which nobody wants. After the load has been switched in the motor/generator speeds up again to normal speed and is therefore recharged again with kinetic rotational energy. It's not a long term storage unit. For long term storage you need to either pump water up to a hydropower plant, have an electrolysis-hydrogen storage-fuel cell plant or heat storage and heat pumps, though the latter is traditionally not used with electricity output. For smaller scale storage there are also flywheel (a large syncrhonous capacitor) or compressed air storage teqniques or even batteries. Hydrogen can store 50x more energy than batteries pr kg, though generation and conversion involves losses of up to 70% which may be OK if the wind or sun at times is plentiful or just because you have no other option. The heat from the process can be used for decentralised heating plants for heating houses or industrial purposes and this would normally require them to be located on land at the outskirts of cities (many such plants using fossil fuels already exist in northern countries).
She is not talking about longer term energy storage, she only talks about grid inertia on the order of seconds! It is just part of the bigger problem, but it is important, she knows what she's talking about. The inertia provides time for all the generators and storages in the grid to respond.
AND synchronous condensers also correct power factor as they can both generate or absorb reactive power, also they stabilize voltage and some other minor stuff.
Wow, I don't think he understood a word and she didn't know how to explain herself. Condensers don't address the real issues with non-synchronised renewable energy sources entering the grid, they're just an extremely expensive band-aid.
Hello
No further understanding of what a synchon is. Poor explanation..
better explanation -> th-cam.com/video/nmoMtoHDmko/w-d-xo.html
546th view.