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Inertia in Electricity Systems

3 minute read

Inertia is a common criticism of the energy transition. This post explains what role intertia plays in
an electricity grid, and why we have clean solutions to the inertia problem.

synchronous generators and inertia

Large, fossil fuel and synchronous generators have historically dominated electricity grids. The
end goal of the energy transition is very different. A clean electricity system is composed of
small-scale, clean and asynchronous generators. A synchronous generator operates with high
inertia, which is valuable to the grid. Any disturbance to the grid must work against all the inertia
of the grid - you can think about synchronous generators ‘pushing back’ against disturbances.

Fossil fuel generators burn fossil fuels to produce high temperature and pressure gases (steam in
steam turbines, air in gas turbines). These high temperature and pressure gases can be used to
drive turbines. The rapidly spinning turbines are connected to alternators via a rotor. The
alternator generates AC electricity.

It’s the rapidly spinning turbine that gives synchronous generators high inertia. Once this rotor is
spinning it’s hard to get it to stop. The speed at which the shaft & alternator needs to spin at is
directly proportional to the desired grid frequency. In fact the grid frequency is the result of the
speed that all these synchronous generators spin at. The frequency of electricity generated by a
synchronous generator is given by

Wind and solar are asynchronous generators. Wind turbines also use rotation to generate
electricity, but spin at variable speeds (i.e. asychronously relative to the grid frequency) and
slower speeds than synchronous generators. Photovoltaic solar panels and batteries have no
moving parts at all.

# poles refers to the poles of the alternator

# 120 converts from minutes to seconds and poles to pairs of poles

frequency = speed * number_of_poles / 120

inertia and the grid

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Inertia in Electricity Systems - the intersection of energy and machine lea... https://adgefficiency.com/inertia-electricity-systems-energy-basics/

The grid is an interconnected system. Changing grid frequency requires changing the speed of
every synchronous generator connected to the grid. This interrelationship is useful during times
of supply & demand mismatches. Any imbalance needs to work to change the speed at which
every generator on the grid spins. If these generators posses a lot of inertia, then the imbalance
needs to work harder to change the grid frequency.

This is the value of inertia to the grid – it buys the grid operator time to take other actions
such as load shedding or calling upon backup plant. These other actions are still needed –
inertia won’t save the grid, just buy time for other actions to save the grid.

So now we understand that fossil fuel generators have inertia and how it is valuable to the grid (it
buys the system operator time during emergency events). What does this mean for our energy
transition? Do we need to keep around some fossil fuel generators to provide inertia in case
something goes wrong? The answer is no.

Modern wind turbines can draw upon kinetic energy stored in the generator and blades to
provide a boost during a grid stress. This ‘synthetic inertia’ has been used successfully in Canada,
where wind turbines were able to supply a similar level of inertia to conventional synchronous
generators.

Figure 1 – Conceptual fast frequency response from a wind turbine

Photovoltaic solar and batteries also have a role to play. Both operate with inverters that convert
DC into AC electricity. The solid-state nature of the devices means that they operate without any
inertia. Yet this solid-state nature allows inverters the ability to quickly change operation in a
highly controllable way. Inverters can quickly react to deliver whatever kind of support the grid
needs during stress events.

In summmary - wind, solar and batteries all have a role to play in replacing the inertia of
fossil fuels. Clean technologies are ready to create a new electricity system. Crucial to the energy
transition is incentivizing the services that our grid needs. If inertia is valued by system operators
then it needs to be incentivized.

The level of support could be logically set so that the level of inertia on the grid will remain at the
same level as our old fossil fuel based grid. That way, no one can complain.

Thanks for reading!

Updated: September 22, 2017

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