Comparative Performance Analysis of Solar Energy and Wind Energy Systems using Rotor Angle Stability

Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels and wind turbines are by far the biggest drivers of the rapid increase in renewable energy electricity generation. Globally, in 2018, 100 gigawatts of solar PV were installed, contributing 55% of new renewable energy capacity; wind contributed the second largest share, with 28% of new renewable capacity. Both technologies are well established and feature heavily in decarbonisation scenarios as proven concepts to generate emission-free electricity. However, with this increasing trend of integrating renewable energy to the grid in the decarbonisation process entails lots of challenges among which stability of the grid plays a predominant role. Inertia plays an important role in the stability of the grid. Due to the penetration of the renewable energy sources (RES) to the grid, the system inertia is lowered because of the displacement of the synchronous generators along with the increasing use of the power electronics devices for synchronising the renewable power to the grid. This paper technically assesses the operational efficiency of both RES in terms of rotor angle stability. MATLAB/Simulink was used as the modelling tools. The results show that though wind turbines have a greater performance than the solar PV system, yet solar PV system can produce a more stable power to the grid than the wind turbine, which requires battery energy storage system (BESS) and additional frequency support to produce a stable power.