Possibilities for temporary autonomous operation of a MV grid with CHP-plants

The increasing penetration of Distributed Generation (DG) units connected to the distribution network, driven mainly by environmental reasons, gives the opportunity to explore a more flexible operation mode of electricity grids. Grid disturbances especially at the transmission level can lead to power interruptions in extended areas. This paper examines the possibility of an area with a significant penetration level of Combined Heat and Power plants (CHP) connected in Medium Voltage (MV) grid to survive after a loss of the connection with the High Voltage (HV) grid due preplanned or unplanned events by investigating how this affects the operation of DG units, how these units manage to contribute to the voltage and frequency control during the switch to autonomous operation and how this affects the operational parameters (voltage and frequency) of the network.