Control performances of CSP generator’s excitation system and speed governor based on measured data

In order to overcome the energy crisis and protect the environment, renewable energy represented by wind and photovoltaic (PV) power generation has been widely valued and vigorously developed in recent two decades. Many countries put forward the development goal of high proportion renewable energy power system, and some countries even put forward the idea of 100% renewable energy power system. Affected by the characteristics of wind speed, solar irradiance and other resources, the power output of wind and PV generation has strong volatility and intermittence. Large amount of wind and PV power integration will bring huge challenges to the power system. How to balance the consumption of high penetrated renewable energy and the stable operation of power system? The concentrating solar power (CSP) can be a good solution. However, at present, the research on the CSP generation integrated with power grid mainly focuses on the long-time scale such as dispatching operation, and the research on the control of seconds-minutes level is less, and the research combined with the field measured data is almost blank. Excitation system and speed governor are the key control components of CSP generator set, and their actual performances play a critical role for the safety of power system. Based on the measured data of an actual CSP plant in Gansu province, China, this paper establishes the excitation system and governor control models for CSP generator set, and investigates its control performances under various operating conditions. The simulation results can provide some reference for the related research in operation and control of CSP generation.