Complementary Analysis and Performance Improvement of a Hydro-Wind Hybrid Power System

Hydropower as a flexible regulation resource is a rare choice to suppress the ever-increasing penetration of wind power in electrical power systems. The complementary characteristics and performance improvement of a hydro–wind hybrid power system based on a mathematical model of the hybrid power system is studied in this paper. This established model takes into account the stochastic variation in wind speeds in the wind power subsystem and the hydraulic–mechanical–electrical coupling characteristics of the hydropower subsystem. The complementary analysis is conducted based on the evaluation variables outputted by the established model, such as the wind power, hydro-regulation power, hydraulic power, and frequency. To make full use of the regulation capability of the hydropower system, the optimization of parameter settings is also carried out to improve complementary performances of the hybrid power system. The results from the complementary analysis show the detailed characteristics of hydro–wind coordinated operation under different types of real wind speeds. Here, 95% of installed hydro-capacity is used to complement the power shortage of the intermittent wind energy under the low wind speed. Alternatively, only around 66% of the installed hydro-capacity can be utilized to cope with the fluctuation in wind power under the medium and high wind speeds before the optimization of parameter settings. The recommended values and change rules of the control, hydraulic, and electrical parameters for the hydropower system are subsequently revealed from the analysis of parameter settings to contribute to a stable and safe hybrid power system. The results show that the optimized parameter can increase the maximal regulating capacity of the hydropower system by nearly 9 MW, approximately a sixth of the total installed hydropower capacity. The method and results obtained in this paper provide theoretical and technical guidance for the safe and economical operation of power stations.