Dynamic monitoring of Frequency Containment Reserve activation

Abstract

Frequency Containment Reserve (FCR), also known as primary control reserve, is the fastest active power reserve (APR) used for system balancing. In the past, FCR was provided by a limited number of large units and the technical requirements on FCR activation could be monitored by a manual procedure. Due to the fact that FCR increasingly is provided by a large number of smaller units, manual procedures are no viable option for the future. For this reason, this article describes an automated concept for monitoring the quality of the activation of FCR during operation. Before FCR monitoring can be carried out, however, the measured active power has to be apportioned among the scheduled power and the different APR products, as they may be provided simultaneously. This article presents a method for the separation of different APR products based on dynamic models. In the proposed monitoring concept, a tolerance channel is created based on the FCR setpoint, defining the admissible range for FCR activation. This tolerance channel is established by means of a dynamic model corresponding to the slowest reserve provider (RP) whose FCR activation is still considered to be compliant. For the purpose of evaluation for longer time periods, the actual FCR activation is normalized relative to the tolerance channel. Finally, the article discusses results obtained with the proposed monitoring concept for different kinds of non-compliant FCR activation such as limited or delayed activation.