Primary Frequency Regulation Requirement of South Africa Grid Code and its DIgSILENT Simulation

Wind power is a kind of renewable energy with unexpected and unfriendly characteristics, so different countries have their own grid code to restrain wind power generation to an acceptable performance. In South Africa, before a Wind Power Plant (WPP) is connected to the grid, WPP’s performance must be pre-evaluated according to the requirements of the Grid Code, which is compulsory for any new WPP of South Africa. This paper firstly introduced the primary frequency regulation requirement for WPP evaluation in South Africa, then explained how the WPP, Power Plant Controller (PPC) and wind turbine generators (WTGs) are modelled and manipulated. Secondly, DIgSILENT model of a wind energy project in South Africa is built, and its PPC controller is initialized for simulating primary frequency response. Thirdly, simulation is executed to follow the pre-defined grid dispatch constructions, and the simulation results are compared with the on-site test records to evaluate the consistency with the grid code. The plant’s overall precision and response speed for validation test was well performed and compliant with grid code.