Study of primary frequency regulation characteristics for thermal power units under deep peak shaving condition

Considering the progressing economy of China, power consumption has been increasing gradually, and the capacity of power grid continues to grow. The issues of peak shaving for thermal power units are becoming more challenging with a large number of new energy resources connected to the power grid. Under the condition of deep peak shaving, the frequency regulation characteristics of thermal power units have considerably improved. However, the primary frequency regulation performance of the units still have great potential for further enhancement required. In order to find out the primary frequency regulation performance of thermal power units under the deep peak shaving condition, it is of critical importance to fully understand the primary frequency regulation characteristics of thermal power units and find out the boundary conditions of the units for safe operation. It is also worthwhile to improve the frequency safety margin tolerance of a power grid and the consumption capacity of new energy sources. These improvements ensure the safe and stable operation of power grid. In this work, the primary frequency regulation characteristics of 600 MW and 1000 MW non-heat-supply units are studied. By comparison of the primary frequency regulation for multiple units, the factors of primary frequency regulation of thermal power units are analyzed. In addition, the optimization strategy is also presented. The obtained results can contribute to further improvement in the primary frequency regulation performance of thermal power units under deep peak shaving conditions.