Power system modeling requirements for rotating machine interfaced distributed resources

Rotating machine interfaced power generation equipment today constitute the majority of interconnected distributed resources (DR). Even though new electronically interfaced DR devices, such as fuel cells, photovoltaics and microturbines are rapidly emerging, rotating machines are expected to continue to represent a major sector of interconnected DR capacity for the foreseeable future. To simulate and predict the impacts of these machines on power system control, protection and power quality conditions, it is crucial for the industry to have reasonable model representations of these devices. Machine models must characterize the prime mover response and generator electrical response behavior including its exciter. Critical types of analysis will include short circuit calculations (fault contributions), harmonic contributions, dynamic response of the generator to load steps and during islanding, voltage regulation, and stability. This paper is a starting point for discussing the modeling needs for rotating machine interfaced DR and potential sources of data for these models.