Sponsor: Foothill Section Chapter, PE31
Speaker: Dr. Nikos Hatziargyriou of National Technical University of Athens

Meeting Date: 20 Nov 2024
Time: 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM
Cost:
Location:
Reservations: IEEE
Summary:
The replacement of directly connected synchronous generators with power electronics interfaced generation has led to a decrease in system’s inertia posing a significant challenge on frequency dynamics. In isolated systems with reduced inertia the role of storage becomes crucial. Indicative abstracts from the CIGRE WG C6.43 and results from studies in island systems will be overviewed. Moreover, predefined limits for renewable penetration and primary reserves are frequently set for dynamic security purposes. This approach might not ensure dynamic security or can prove conservative in certain conditions. Furthermore, these approaches rarely consider the capabilities of inverter based renewable generation to provide frequency services. In this presentation, a data driven approach, based on optimal classification trees is described to extract, from a detailed dynamic model of the system, the constraints for a frequency dynamic unit commitment formulation. Hence, both dynamic security and optimal exploitation of renewable and conventional units for power production and frequency support can be achieved. The advantages of the proposed method compared to conventional and state of the art approaches in frequency security are validated through dynamic simulations on a realistic model of Rhodes island. Its economic performance, computational overhead and modelling complexity is compared to alternative approaches.

Despite the benefits however, system operators may be reluctant to embrace AI solutions, as the models may be challenging to interpret, perceived as black boxes. Additional concerns may arise regarding the adequacy of testing under realistic conditions. In the presentation these concerns are addressed by introducing a digital twin designed for the realistic testing of dynamic security assessment applications in the system of Rhodes. The developed digital twin incorporates two options for the virtual model of the island: an interface with a commercial RMS/EMT software and a real time simulator together with an industrial under frequency load shedding protection equipment. The settings of the actual field devices on the island are tested through a hardware in the loop interface.

Bio: Dr. Nikos Hatziargyriou of National Technical University of Athens received the Diploma in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens in 1976 and the MSC and PhD degrees from UMIST, Manchester, UK in 1979 and 1982, respectively. Since 1984, he has been with the Power Division of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of NTUA, and since 1995, he has been a full professor in Power Systems. Since April 2015, he has been Chairman and CEO of the Hellenic Distribution Network Operator (DEDDIE). From February 2007 to September 2012, he was Deputy CEO of the Public Power Corporation (PPC) of Greece, responsible for Transmission and Distribution Networks, island DNO, and the Center of Testing, Research, and Prototyping.
He is a Fellow Member of IEEE, past Chair of the Power System Dynamic Performance Committee, Honorary member of CIGRE, and past Chair of CIGRE SC C6 “Distribution Systems and Distributed Generation.” He is co-chair of the EU Technology and Innovation Platform on Smart Networks for Energy Transition. He is a member of the Energy Committee of the Athens Academy of Science.