The Role of Fast Frequency Response of Energy Storage Systems and Renewables for Ensuring Frequency Stability in Future Low-Inertia Power Systems

Renewable generation technologies are rapidly penetrating electrical power systems, which challenge frequency stability, especially in power systems with low inertia. To prevent future instabilities, this issue should already be addressed in the planning stage of the power systems. With this purpose, this paper presents a generation expansion planning tool that incorporates a set of frequency stability constraints along with the capability of renewable technologies and batteries to support system frequency stability during major power imbalances. We study how the investment decisions change depending on (i) which technology—batteries, renewable or conventional generation—support system frequency stability, (ii) the available levels of system inertia, and (iii) the modeling detail of reserve allocation (system-wide versus zone-specific). Our results for a case study of Chile’s system in the year 2050 show that including fast frequency response from converter-based technologies will be mandatory to achieve a secure operation in power systems dominated by renewable generation. When batteries offer the service, the total investment sizes are only slightly impacted. More precise spatial modeling of the reserves primarily affects the location of the investments as well as the reserve provider. These findings are relevant to energy policy makers, energy planners, and energy companies.