Analysis of the impact of synthetic inertia on frequency variations and on turbine governor dead-bands

The increasing penetration of renewable energy sources (RESs) in the set of the production units of power systems is progressively reducing the inertia of those grids. This may result both in excessively large frequency deviations immediately after a power imbalance and in a poor primary frequency regulation. As a consequence, since the crossing of turbine governor dead-bands becomes more likely, generators may be subject to higher mechanical stress and operators may incur in higher OM costs. To overcome these issues, synthetic inertia has been recently proposed as a potential solution to allow RESs-fuelled generators to improve frequency stability and restore the traditional features of power systems regulation. This paper shows how synthetic inertia can contribute in reducing frequency variations during normal system operation, by considering uncertainty and stochastic load variations. To this end, different scenarios are simulated by using a modified version of the IEEE 14-bus system.