Frequency Containment Reserve (FCR)

 Frequency Containment Reserve (FCR) is a new method and a service for containing the frequency on the grid during large and fast initial deviations.

FCR requires that the power-plant is qualified up front doing tests on site. This qualification is rather elaborate. It is also very costly because the plant will be off grid for roughly a week. A substantial amount of planning and preparations must be done to assure efficient tests, yet there is no guaranty up front that the plant is suitable. Statnett is responsible for this qualifications together with entso-e. A bit surprisingly, the qualification scheme describes no theoretical analysis, only on-site tests to be approved by Statnett.

Information about everything FCR can be found on Statnett web site here.

LVTrans is a transient simulation software. Since the plant is modelled in minute details, this enables transient simulations of all the FCR tests. Such a simulation will therefore be very useful. It will:

• Assess how likely the plant is able to run FCR, and if so:
• Determine the best possible PID parameter sets for FCR-N, FCR-D up and FCR-D down
• Determine the ranges of droop for FCR
• Determine the theoretical stability and performance of the plant when in FCR mode using the special FCP IT-Tool by entso-e/Svenska Kraftnät. The same tool as used in the tests on site.

Including FCR simulations using LVTrans will therefore reduce the economic risk associated with these tests dramatically. It will also enable the best possible starting point for the PID parameter sets. Less tuning on site. The low frequency sine-sweep of the tests can be dangerous for some plants since they may in a worst case scenario coincide with the resonant frequency of the waterway (surge shafts). Using LVTrans this will be analyzed and prevented.

All in all, using LVTrans up front as part of the planning and screening, will greatly enhance the possibilities for a successful, efficient and accurate FCR deployment, as well as prevent FCR deployment/tests on plants not suitable for it.

The FCR capability of LVTrans is not open source. It's much too special to have a broad interest, while at the same time requires a substantial amount of programming and testing to adhere to specifications. Interesting parties can get in contact for further information. As of today, four companies have purchased a license, enabling the development.

Links:

FCR in general

FCR and FCP IT-Tool