_10_EE394J _2_Spring12_Inertia_Calculation.

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Page 1 of 6
Procedure for Estimating Grid Inertia H from Frequency Droop Measurements

While the expressions for inertia and frequency droop are well known, it is prudent to rederive
them here. Treating all the grid generators as one large unit, the stored energy is


2
2
1
s ke
J W e = . (1)

Taking the derivative,


dt
d
J
dt
dW
s
s
ke
e
e = . (2)

The rate of change of stored energy is net input mechanical power minus net electrical output
power,

P P
dt
dW
m
ke
= . (3)

There is power balance before a unit trip,

P P
pre
m
= . (4)

When one of the many generators trips (i.e., loss of
m
P A ),
e
P temporarily remains unchanged
because voltage regulators maintain load voltage and load power. Frequency has not changed
enough to affect load power. Thus generators begin to give up some of their stored kinetic
energy (commonly called the inertial droop).


dt d
P
J P P P P
dt
d
J
dt
dW
s
m
s m e m
pre
m
s
s
ke
/
,
e
e
e
e
A
= A = A = = . (5)

The post-trip H constant is defined as


( )
rated post
s
s
m
rated post
s s
rated post
s
P dt d
P
P
J
P
J
H
, , ,
2
/ 2
1
2
1
2
1
e
e
e e
e
(

A
=
-
= . (6)

Rewriting,


( ) ( ) ( ) dt df P
f P
dt df
f
P
P
dt d P
P
H
s rated post
s m
s
s
rated post
m
s
s
rated post
m
/ 2 / 2
2
2 / 2
1
, , ,
A
=
A
=
(
(

A
=
t
t
e
e
. (7)

_10_EE394J _2_Spring12_Inertia_Calculation.doc
Page 2 of 6
Net H for ERCOT can be evaluated with experimental data as will be shown.

H has the units of seconds. The correct interpretation is that the kinetic energy in the equivalent
system machine corresponds to H seconds of rated power. Thus, the machine could provide
rated power for H seconds, at which time it would have spun down to zero RPM.

The multiplier
s
f term in the numerator can be considered constant.
rated
P is post-event and
should not contain the tripped generator. Post-event spinning reserve (excluding that of the
tripped generator) should be included in
rated post
P
,
.

Summarizing (7),
m
P A is the MW tripped,
s
f is 60 Hz,
rated post
P
,
is total post-trip generation
MW plus post-trip spinning reserve, and dt df
s
/ is the inertial slope of the frequency droop
immediately after the trip occurs.

Estimation of grid inertia H is illustrated as follows. Consider the event shown in the following
figure. Total generation is 41,493 MW, spinning reserve is 12,146 MW, and the tripped MW is
477. The sources of the data and important notes concerning their use are

1. MW trip values are from ERCOT Daily Grid Reports

2. Total Generation MW, Spinning Reserve MW, and Wind Generation MW are 1-minute
averages

3. Frequency measurements are taken by the Texas Synchrophasor Network, with stations
in Austin (two locations, U.T. Austin campus and at nearby Harris substation), McDonald
Observatory, and U.T. Pan American, with 30 points per second. Some unit trips are not
reported here due to internet problems.

4. Frequency measurements at all reporting stations are shown.

5. The spinning reserve of a tripped unit is estimated from total spinning reserve using its
fraction of total MW generation.

The first step in determining H is to draw the dashed line used to estimate inertia slope dt df
s
/ .
Measuring the slope of the dashed line yields dt df
s
/ =0.039 Hz per second (falling).

_10_EE394J _2_Spring12_Inertia_Calculation.doc
Page 3 of 6

























Next, the prorated share of spinning reserve of the tripped generation is estimated to be

6 . 139
41493
477
12146 = - MW.

Substituting into (7) yields

( ) | | ( ) 0386 . 0 ) 6 . 139 12146 ( ) 477 41493 ( 2
60 477
/ 2
,
- + -
-
=
A
=
dt df P
f P
H
s rated post
s m
,

H =6.98 sec.
59.86
59.88
59.90
59.92
59.94
59.96
59.98
60.00
49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57
Second of the Minute
F
r
e
q
u
e
n
c
y
UT Austin
McD
Pan Am
59.86
59.88
59.90
59.92
59.94
59.96
59.98
60.00
49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57
Second of the Minute
F
r
e
q
u
e
n
c
y
UT Austin
McD
Pan Am
59.86
59.88
59.90
59.92
59.94
59.96
59.98
60.00
49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57
Second of the Minute
F
r
e
q
u
e
n
c
y
UT Austin
McD
Pan Am
Tot
Gen
MW
Spinning
Reserve
MW
Wind
Gen %
of
Total
MW
Trip
Est. Lost
Spinning
Reserve
MW
Inertia
Slope
(Hz/sec)
H
(sec)
Fdrop
to
Nadir
(Hz)
Nadir
Slope
(Hz/sec)
Inertia
Slope /
Nadir
Slope
41493 12146 1.37 477 139.6 0.0386 6.98 0.102 0.0202 1.92
Tot
Gen
MW
Spinning
Reserve
MW
Wind
Gen %
of
Total
MW
Trip
Est. Lost
Spinning
Reserve
MW
Inertia
Slope
(Hz/sec)
H
(sec)
Fdrop
to
Nadir
(Hz)
Nadir
Slope
(Hz/sec)
Inertia
Slope /
Nadir
Slope
41493 12146 1.37 477 139.6 0.0386 6.98 0.102 0.0202 1.92
_10_EE394J _2_Spring12_Inertia_Calculation.doc
Page 4 of 6
Frequency Recovery Ratio (FRR).




























Now, consider the maximum frequency drop
nadir
F A and the time it takes to reach the nadir of
the frequency drop curve,
nadir
T A . The nadir slope line above has downward slope
nadir
nadir
T
F
A
A
Hz
per second. FRR compares how far down system frequency would have dropped at
nadir
T A
with inertia response alone (i.e., no governor action), to how far it actually dropped with
governor action. It is a relative measure for robustness.

slope Nadir
slope Inertia
T Slope Nadir
T Slope Inertia
F
F
FRR
nadir
nadir
nadir
inertia


) (
) (
=
A -
A -
=
A
A
=
59.86
59.88
59.90
59.92
59.94
59.96
59.98
60.00
49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57
Second of the Minute
F
r
e
q
u
e
n
c
y
UT Austin
McD
Pan Am
59.86
59.88
59.90
59.92
59.94
59.96
59.98
60.00
49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57
Second of the Minute
F
r
e
q
u
e
n
c
y
UT Austin
McD
Pan Am
59.86
59.88
59.90
59.92
59.94
59.96
59.98
60.00
49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57
Second of the Minute
F
r
e
q
u
e
n
c
y
UT Austin
McD
Pan Am
Inertia
slope
Nadir
slope
Tnadir
Fnadir

Finertia
_10_EE394J _2_Spring12_Inertia_Calculation.doc
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Generalized Expression with Spinning Reserve as a Variable

The previous example included spinning reserve, but not as an explicit variable. If spinning
reserve is a uniform per unit value on the base of every machine, it can be included as an explicit
variable as follows. Begin with the previous equation

( ) dt df P
f P
H
s rated post
s m
/ 2
,
A
=

where
m
P A is the MW generation tripped, and
rated post
P
,
is the post-trip MW generation plus
spinning reserve SR. If SR is the same ratio at all generations, and assuming that the load MW
does not change when the unit trip occurs, then the equation for H becomes

( ) ( ) dt df SR P P
f P
H
s m pre gen
s m
/ ) 1 ( 2
,
- + - A
A
= , (8)

where
pre gen
P
,
is the pre-trip generation (excludes spinning reserve). Substituting in the
numbers yields the same result as before,

( ) ( ) 0386 . 0 ) 293 . 0 1 ( 477 41493 2
60 477
- + - -
-
= H =6.98 sec.

A reverse problem is to estimate the rating of the tripped unit, using assumptions of H and SR.
In that case, from (8),

( ) ( )
s m s m pre gen
f P dt df SR P P H A = - + - A / ) 1 ( 2
,
.

Rewriting,

( ) ( ) ( ) dt df SR HP dt df SR H f P
s pre gen s s m
/ ) 1 ( 2 / ) 1 ( 2
,
+ = + A .

Rewriting,

( )
( )
( )
( )
s s
s pre gen
s s
s pre gen
m
f dt df SR H
dt df SR H P
dt df SR H f
dt df SR P H
P
+
+ -
=
+
+ -
= A
/ ) 1 ( 2
/ ) 1 ( 2
/ ) 1 ( 2
/ ) 1 ( 2
, ,
.

Rewriting, the estimate for the tripped MW generation is

( ) dt df SR H
f
P
P
s
s
pre gen
m
/ ) 1 ( 2
1
,
+

= A . (9)
_10_EE394J _2_Spring12_Inertia_Calculation.doc
Page 6 of 6

Using the previous example,

477
1 . 86 1
41493
697 . 0
60
1
41493
) 0386 . 0 ( ) 293 . 0 1 ( 98 . 6 2
60
1
41493
=
+
=
+
=
- + - -

= A
m
P MW.

In most cases, the 1 in the denominator is relatively insignificant considering the accuracy of
the data, so that a reasonable approximation is

( )
( )
s
s pre gen
s
s
pre gen
m
f
dt df SR H P
dt df SR H
f
P
P
/ ) 1 ( 2
/ ) 1 ( 2
, ,
+
=
+

~ A (10)

( )
60
0386 . 0 293 . 1 98 . 6 41493 2 - - - -
= =482 MW (approx.)

The rating of the tripped unit is approximately

( )
( )
s
s pre gen
s
s
pre gen
m rated
f
dt df SR H P
dt df SR H
f
P
SR P P
/ ) 1 ( 2
/ ) 1 ( 2
) 1 (
2
, ,
+
=
+

~ + - A = A ,

( )
s
s pre gen
rated
f
dt df SR H P
P
/ ) 1 ( 2
2
,
+
~ A =623 MW (approx.) (11)