Laboratory test of a synchronous island controller in the presence of hydro-electric generation

This paper introduces a laboratory test-bench that is used to verify a novel wide-area load sharing scheme for synchronous islanding control. Many current mechanisms for islanding control rely on frequency droop. However, this approach does not provide optimal control as it is based on network conditions measured at individual generators with no input from any other parts of the network. The authors´ scheme utilizes communication links between various sites to make decisions based on the wider-area network conditions; which in turn leads to a more efficient and reliable mechanism for island control. This paper introduces a laboratory setup that emulates the proposed wide-area control system. The components of the setup are discussed as well as the control and communication mechanisms. The test bench is used to test the setup, communication and latency characteristics of the proposed load-sharing island control mechanism and is verified using historical sensor data from a selected portion of the Norwegian power grid - which is particularly suited due to the increased islanding likelihood stemming from a grid fed by a high percentage of hydro-electric generation.