Testing of Compliance with Grid Code Requirements in IWES-SysTec Test Centre
Abstract
Today the installed capacity of Distributed Energy Resource (DER) units in Germany is considerably high (e.g. PV systems: PPV, inst. > 18 GWp, wind power plants: PWind, inst. > 27 GW). Considering the German peak demand of about 80 GW the contingent of feed-in from DER units / plants must not be neglected any longer. For instance, a loss of generation of a large amount of DER can lead to severe stability problems. Due to the large growth in the amount of installed DER units, the adaptation of interconnection requirements has been under discussion, at the national and international level, between network operators, manufacturers, DER plant operators and research institutes. A paradigm change of the role of DER units is occurring. Commonly, in the past, DER units were not permitted to take an active role, but nowadays all DER technologies are asked to support the network in terms of static and dynamic issues (Degner et al., 2009). In Germany, similar to the requirements for the high voltage (HV) level (VDN, 2007), since January 2009 the new BDEW guideline (BDEW, 2008) for interconnection of DER units to the medium voltage (MV) network has been in force. From the beginning of August 2011, advanced interconnection requirements for the low voltage (LV) networks also come into operation. Thus, DER units / plants connected to the German HV, MV or LV network have to provide extended grid supporting features, in order to support network operation and stability.