Inertial response from wind power plants during a frequency disturbance on the Hydro-Quebec system – event analysis and validation

To better assess the contribution of wind power plants (WPPs) during disturbances, Hydro-Quebec TransEnergie (HQT), the main transmission system operator in the Quebec Interconnection, uses on-line monitoring to record data at the point of common coupling of each WPP. This data is used to analyse their performance during voltage and frequency disturbances. Until recently, very few WPPs were able to provide an inertial response (IR) for under-frequency events. On 28 December 2015, a generation loss of 1700 MW caused a frequency nadir of 59.08 Hz on the system, to which most WPPs required to provide IR contributed significantly. The analysis of the event showed that the behaviour of the WPPs had a significant effect on the recovery of the system frequency. This study presents the performance analysis of WPPs during this under-frequency event. The analysis is based on data collected from 25 large-scale WPPs in operation and equipped with the IR feature as required by HQT. Field measurements and simulation results are used to emphasise the effect of the active power reduction during the recovery phase. Impacts of the IR from the WPPs as used on the Hydro-Quebec system are discussed.