Synthetic Inertia Impact Evaluation in Alberta Power System

The provincial Government of Alberta has mandated phasing out coal by 2030. Alberta has a deregulated electricity market where it is expected higher volume of renewable will be added to the system. The increase in renewable penetration may result in system stability challenges. The higher renewable penetration and removal of synchronous machines may lead to frequency instability if non-synchronous plants do not provide inertial response to the system when disturbances occur. This paper presents the notion of synthetic inertia in what is expected to be a high renewable energy penetration environment. Further, the paper shows study results how synthetic inertia can perform under various renewable energy penetration levels within the Alberta power system. Finally, the response of the proposed inertial model is demonstrated through detailed simulations.