Employing Imbalance Forecasts to Proactively Counteract Deterministic Frequency Deviations

In power systems, discrepancies between the scheduled step-wise power production and the smooth power consumption result in volatile frequency profiles. Sudden changes at the end of each market delivery period cause Deterministic Frequency Deviations (DFDs). Literature suggests various counteracting measures, but they are insufficient to limit DFDs. We propose two methods to anticipate DFDs. Both rely on the forward activation of active power based on power imbalance forecasts. While the first method employs traditional ancillary services in a new fashion, the second one suggests a novel service to analyse the benefits of implementing regulatory changes. Both proposed solutions are compared to employing fast-frequency control services. All methods are tested on real DFDs that exhibit a considerable Swiss contribution in 2020 in Continental Europe (CE). Using a dynamic model representing Switzerland as a part of the CE grid, the presented work highlights the efficacy of the suggested forward activation of power. The results indicate a significant reduction in the DFD amplitude and costs of standard ancillary services.