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To achieve clean energy targets, more renewable generators – mainly wind and photovoltaic (PV) – are being integrated into electricity networks. However, wind and PV are non-synchronous generators to the grid and they traditionally have neither enough inertia response nor governor support to control major frequency excursions under most situations. Currently in South Australia, the combined generation of wind and rooftop PV has nearly reached the level of average demand with minor support through interconnection import. In such a situation it is likely that there may be fewer synchronous machines online for frequency regulation. Under such a scenario, a contingency could produce a more severe frequency excursion, violating in place frequency standards. Further, many distributed PV systems in South Australia may have a default under-frequency protection setting, which could be higher than the under-frequency load shedding (UFLS) threshold. Hence, a moderate generation/import trip may cause a massive secondary PV trip, which may result in an unacceptably low frequency, triggering further load shedding. This will certainly have an adverse impact on network security. A similar issue of secondary PV trip is not restricted to South Australia and may occur in other regions and countries as well. In this paper, a network which loosely represents the Australian National Electricity Market (NEM) is selected and modified to investigate and analyze network frequency response under high non-synchronous machine penetration. This network contains all necessary models for a comprehensive frequency response study, such as synchronous machine, governor, stabilizer and wind generator. The relevant functions such as load frequency relief, PV tripping and load shedding which are essential for frequency response evaluation are established in the approved and well-accepted platform – PSS®E. The results show that low inertia and secondary PV tripping can become serious issues for network frequency regulation and in some situations they can even cause system oscillation and stability concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the development and application of an analytical method for formalizing the dependence of the behavior of a large power system under fault conditions on the equivalent impedance presented by a single generator. After selecting an appropriate generator model, it is demonstrated that network-wide fault behavior can be expressed as a rational function of the equivalent impedance presented by a single generator under fault conditions. This representation simplifies the identification and depiction of constraints imposed by system configuration on the ability of a generator replacement or augmentation to affect fault behavior. The effectiveness of the proposed method is confirmed by considering the three-phase fault currents produced in a six-bus test system. In addition, the new analytical method is extended to obtain a numerical estimate of the maximum possible change in fault behavior that could result from a generator replacement or augmentation. Overall, the new approach aids in the evaluation of the suitability of generator modification or augmentation schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vibration measurement has been adopted in some utilities in Australia, Canada, and several European countries for online condition monitoring of the power transformer's onload tap changer (OLTC). By comparing measured vibration signals at different stages, it might be possible to assess changes of OLTC's condition. However, there are still considerable difficulties in correlating vibration signals to the events of OLTC operation, which may impair the capability of vibration measurement for OLTC condition monitoring. Therefore, arcing measurement is proposed in this paper to complement the vibration measurement. Arcing is provoked when the OLTC switching contact closes at a fixed tap position and can lead to electromagnetic signals flowing through transformer windings, finally reaching earth. The arcing measurement is achieved by using a high-frequency current transducer (HFCT) clamping on the transformer's grounding cable. The joint vibration and arcing measurement can provide a better means for interpreting events involved in OLTC operation and facilitating improved OLTC condition monitoring. Since HFCT measured arcing signals can be coupled with noise, a probabilistic wavelet transform is thus employed in this paper to extract arcing signals from noise. Field measurements on two different types of OLTCs are performed using the joint vibration and arcing measurement system to validate the proposed methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Renewable generations are growing fast and they are becoming the major generation technology in power systems. Amongst all renewables, wind and solar resources have the highest growth rate. However, fluctuation and uncertainty of these sources are the main barriers in their utilization and can affect reliability of power system. Therefore, these generators must be treated differently in adequacy studies and their reliability contribution should be evaluated. South Australia (SA) accounts for more than half of Australia's wind share and its solar capacity is rapidly increasing as well. Thus, not only the reliability benefit of wind is required to be investigated in this power system, but also the contribution of solar energy and its impacts should be analysed as well. The reliability benefit of wind and PV has been studied in the literature, but there is a need to evaluate their combined contribution in reality and investigate the influence of their correlations. Therefore, this paper evaluates the reliability contribution of wind and solar power in South Australia and the impact of solar energy on wind load carrying capability. State sampling Monte Carlo technique is utilized for reliability assessment and Fuzzy C-means clustering method is employed to create a multistep load model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Market power refers to the ability of generators in influencing the energy prices above competitive level to obtain more profits. It may be the cause of transmission congestion that limits transfer capability in an interconnected area. Hence an independent system operator (ISO) must be able to detect the conditions in which market power has been practiced to guarantee a secure competition and economical operation of the electricity market. To cope up with transmission congestion to assess market power, an optimal power flow (OPF) based on shift-factor methodology to find out a new indicator, called congestion-based dynamic dispatch index has been proposed. One of the beneficial feature of the proposed method is the ability to recognise accurately the most potential generator to exercise the market power. A generator bidding scheme represented by financial withheld strategy is then utilised to investigate the dynamic condition of power market. An analysis on the power market performance to identify potential generators in exercising market power is also presented. The results show that transmission congestion condition may be created unnaturally by this particular bidding strategy. It prevents some cheap generators to supply their outputs and allows all more expensive generators within the congested zone to gain more profits at the cost of other market participants. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]