Grid-Forming Converters and Resources for 100 % Renewable Power Systems
Speaker
Kai Strunz
Professor, Sustainable Electric Networks and Sources of Energy, TU Berlin.
Title
"Grid-Forming Converters and Resources for 100 % Renewable Power Systems"
Abstract
The development of a control scheme for power electronic grid-forming conversion is presented here as an enabler for a system-wide integration of 100 % renewable energy sources (RESs) in power systems. The scheme culminates in the concept of the grid-forming resource (GFR) that brings together both the control technologies of the renewable power resource and the grid-forming converter. The controller is shown to be practical in offering inertial response emulation and frequency control based on droop characteristics to maintain power balances rapidly. A virtual impedance is employed to damp electric network transients. The integration with the control of wind energy conversion systems (WECSs) creates a grid-forming wind park as the prototype of the GFR.
Feedforward signals exchanged between grid and resource-side controls enhance fast overall controllability. The principal claims are substantiated for a European scenario example with the Irish power transmission
system in the focus. The model comprises more than 2000 individual WECSs grouped into wind parks, where ten wind parks function as GFRs. The transient behavior of this scenario comprising 100% converter-interfaced generation is shown to be similar compared with a counterpart case comprising synchronous machinery. The results validate the fact that GFRs with their proposed controls are expected to be key elements in creating a renewable and secure electric power system.
About Speaker
Kai Strunz received the Dr.-Ing. degree with summa cum laude from Saarland University, Germany. From 1997 to 2002, he was a research engineer with the R&D Division of Electricité de France (EDF) in Paris. From 2002 to 2007, he was a tenure-track Assistant Professor of electrical engineering with the University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. Since 2007, he has been a full Professor of Sustainable Electric Networks and Sources of Energy at TU Berlin in Germany. He is Chair of the Supervisory Board of companies ELTEC-GeoClima AG, GeoHome AG, and IGP 2.0 AG.
Dr. Strunz is the Chair of the IEEE PES Committee on Energy Development and Power Generation and the Co-Chair of the IEEE PES Working Group on Dynamic Performance and Modeling of HVDC Systems and Power Electronics for Transmission Systems. He was the Chairperson of the Conference IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies (ISGT) Europe in 2012. On behalf of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), he acted as the Review Editor of the Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation. He received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2002 and the IEEE PES Prize Paper Award in 2015 and 2023.